Code: Alfheim
by Silius1
Summary: After 3 years of being in Aincrad, Ulrich assumed he would finally have some peace of mind, but he has been thrown from the oven pit to the fire itself. He no longer exists in the world of Aincrad, but lives in the world of Yggdrasil. Will Ulrich be forever separated from the friends he spent 3 years with, or will they be reunited in the face of new dangers?
1. Prologue

After 3 years of being in Aincrad, Ulrich assumed he would finally have some peace of mind, but he has been thrown from the oven pit to the fire itself. He no longer exists in the world of Aincrad, but lives in the world of Yggdrasil. Will Ulrich be forever separated from the friends he spent 3 years with, or will they be reunited in the face of new dangers?

Rated: AU Fiction T

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works._

* * *

Aincrad Standard Time: [18:30] June 1st, 2025

Location: [Floor 98: Iwaya]

The game of SAO was cleared after nearly 3 years of fighting in Aincrad. Everyone cheered and enjoyed their last couple of days in Aincrad, however the hidden truth behind one of the strongest clearers kept him and his friends from truly enjoying it. The clearer known as Ulrich Stern and his friends have gone to his newest house, which is the size of a giant mansion, and the only reason he has it is because his friends: Karen, Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia became co-owners, because of its immense price of over 50 million Col. The group have gone to this mansion in Iwaya to enjoy their final days in Aincrad. The people who have assembled in Ulrich's mansion are: Ulrich, Sylvia, Karen, Katsuo, Kana, Kazuto, Asuna, Klein, Keiko, Rika, and Yui.

"I...I can't believe it, after three years, Aincrad has been cleared and we can all leave" Kazuto says, doubting himself somewhat out of the happiness of freedom after three years.

"Not...all of us Kirito-kun..." Asuna says sadly.

"Oh...I'm sorry Ulrich, I forgot..." Kazuto says in a sad tone, briefly forgetting his situation.

"It's alright, atleast you all can leave, your friends and families must be worried sick, the sooner you all can return, the better" Ulrich says, trying to sound happy.

"Ulrich, you're part of our family too, even though we'd return to our own world, you'd be left behind..." Karen says sadly.

"Karen's right Ulrich, you're part of our extended family, it's never good being forced to leave family behind" Keiko says, with Sylvia and Rika nodding.

"They're right about all this, alongside you and Kazuto I think of you guys as my brothers. I also think of Keiko and the other girls as my sisters" Katsuo says proudly.

"Yeah Ulrich, never assume you're alone, you're part of our family, even if we're not blood related" Klein says with a thumbs up during his speech.

"You guys...you're so silly" Ulrich says desperately trying to hold back his tears.

Everyone in the group begins laughing trying to ease the tense situation, which succeeds rather easily. Ulrich decides to ask his friends a question since they'll be leaving him relatively soon and he might not be able to see them again. He atleast wants to know their plans for the future after this.

"Anyway, what are you all going to after this?" Ulrich asks the group.

"I'll have a lot of education to catch up on, I'm sure being stuck here for 3 years really reduced my actual intelligence..." Karen says casually, being a bit depressed near the end.

"I'll need to talk with my sister and mother, they're surely both worried sick and mad at me" Kazuto says with mixed tones.

"I...don't know right now, SAO was my purpose for the last three years...I don't know what I'll do after I'm done here, I'm definitely going to keep playing MMORPGs though, it's very fun" Katsuo says.

"I do miss my younger brother, I've been raising him with help with my younger sister after my parents passed away. I hope the both of them are doing fine. I never anticipated that I'd be stuck here for three years. Originally, this was just going to be a fun activity to pass time, but not THIS much time" Sylvia says, with a hint of guilt, after remembering her family.

"I was relatively withdrawn from my family after you moved Katsuo, but I suppose I should try re-establishing our weakened bond." Kana says.

* * *

The rest of the group answer in similar ways, with Ulrich being made mildly jealous with each response because of how he cannot remember his friends or family.

"Ulrich, why did you ask us this? Is there a reason?" Karen asks out of curiosity.

"I wanted to know, it helps me relax a little knowing what you're going to do with this time of conflict ending." Ulrich says calmly.

"I see, I suppose knowing the plans of your friends can bring one a little stability" Karen says quietly.

"I want a way to meet up with you all in the real world actually, is there a place all of us can meet up in?" Kana says with a little optimism and sadness.

"Doesn't Andrew run a bar in real life? We could meet up there" Asuna mentions in mixed tones.

"Ulrich, I may know a way you can attend as well, considering how you entered Aincrad through unorthodox methods, I imagine Cardinal would've digitized you. If I can find an admin console, I could turn your existence into an item and transfer you to my NerveGear, in a way, you'd become a pseudo Artificial Intelligence." Kazuto says.

"That sounds...depressing, I'm not sure how much I'd like that..." Ulrich says in an obviously depressed tone.

"Don't take it that way Ulrich, your mind and body would still stay here, but you'd have access to us digitally, we'd be able to meet in the real world." Kazuto says trying to cheer up Ulrich.

"If you put it that way, it does sound a little better" Ulrich says sheepishly.

"I imagine you all must be hungry; Asuna, Kana, Keiko, would you all mind helping me with cooking up a feast?" Karen asks, since these four are the best chefs in this group of friends.

"Certainly, Kirito-kun, keep out of trouble" Asuna says, with Kana and Keiko nodding in approval for cooking the feast, leaving Ulrich, Kirito, Katsuo, Sylvia, Klein, Rika, and Yui.

"I don't plan on waiting here until the food's ready. Ulrich, you said this place has a forge right?" Rika asks.

"Yeah, it's a floor above us, far right" Ulrich says relatively nonchalantly, knowing Rika's favoritism of forging.

Rika departs to the forge, not wanting to be stuck in a room full of guys, aside from Sylvia and Yui.

"I'm going to head to the library, Yui, do you want to come with me?" Sylvia says, wanting to read up on various topics.

"Certainly, bye bye Papa" Yui says while running towards Kazuto and giving him a quick hug, then departs with Sylvia to the library.

"This leaves me, Kazuto, Katsuo, and Klein, do you all want to spar in the ring? It has a unique ability of creating any environment" Ulrich asks what's left of the group.

"Are you sure? What about the rule of death?" Kazuto asks in mild shock.

"Remember the announcement that came after we defeated Heathcliff? It told us that the rule of death was abolished that moment onward. We tested it remember?" Ulrich says, surprised that Kazuto forgot.

"Count me in, I've been crazy bored since we beat Heathcliff" Katsuo says with fire in his tone.

"I'd be hesitant normally, but we've never actually dueled, I want to see who would come out as the winner" Klein says.

"Very well...what setting will we use? Total loss? Half Loss? or First Strike?" Kazuto asks.

"First strike is unfair because of the fact you and Ulrich are much faster than us" Katsuo says.

"Let's do Half loss, it'll allow us to go all out yet stop us from truly dying" Klein says.

"Fair enough, let's head to the ring, I have a special environment in mind." Ulrich says with giddy while heading to the ring with Kazuto and the others.

* * *

Ulrich and the others wander through the large hallways of Ulrich's mansion to reach the dueling ring near the top of the mansion to start the duel between Ulrich, Katsuo, Kazuto, and Klein. They arrive at the ring and when they enter, a special field is created and the environment changes to a giant ice mountain field, that is reminiscent of floor 58's mountains. The four challengers are in random parts of the environment, thus it's become a sort of race to take down the others and come out victorious.

"Hmm...a mountainous terrain, I'm glad I have this pure white shield, I can hide myself near the snow and pick them off one by one but...if this place is giant-sized, the match would never end...as much as I would want to stay alive, I'm not going to use stealth and fight them face to face." Katsuo says quietly, not trying to alert the others if they're close by, and trying to avoid causing an avalanche.

Katsuo then runs north to try catching atleast one of the others.

"Ulrich, you crafty bugger, you planned this intentionally because of your familiarity with ice mountain terrain didn't you? I'll make sure I defeat you first" Klein says in a slightly annoyed tone.

Klein rushes to find Ulrich in vengeance for creating this environment of all things.

"This environment reminds me of floor 58, I remember that my Dark Repulser was made by Lizbeth from a crystalline ingot I got from that dragon" Kazuto says quietly.

Kazuto decides to head towards the mountain side to get an aerial view of the area and find the others.

"Looks like things are going well, I bet the K trio is dumbfounded and I can use that chance to get a drop on the others...but who should I go after first? Klein would be an easy target but by the time I got rid of Klein, Katsuo and Kazuto would become used to this terrain and become tougher to remove. So I need to target Katsuo or Kazuto" Ulrich says quietly.

Ulrich departs to get a drop on either Kazuto or Katsuo, as Kazuto is the dangerous dual bladed swordsman and Katsuo's known as the adaptable White Fortress, they are the most dangerous of all the clearers since Heathcliff was defeated, with Ulrich tying for 1st alongside Kazuto and Katsuo because of his increased strength but with his capability to become exhausted making him relatively fragile.

Ulrich, Katsuo, and Klein are dashing through the mountainous terrain trying to find their opponents, with Kazuto taking the different approach of climbing the mountainside to try finding the others. Ulrich quickly sees the silhouette of one of the challengers and uses his super-sprint skill to quickly sneak up on the person. To his surprise, the silhouette is Kazuto's.

"Excellent, my most difficult opponent is here unaware of my presence, Katsuo is not as strong as Kazuto, so removing Kazuto from the duel will be a definite plus" Ulrich says to himself, using a special version of the dual blades unique skill and draw his Kingetsuga & Kurogetsuga, the one katana that Lizbeth made with the unique quality of changing color & name separated into three different katanas upon the acquisition of the dual blades skill, and creeps behind Kazuto to begin the attack.

Right when Ulrich would begin the attack, Kazuto draws his Elucidator and Dark Repulser and blocks the attack

"Did you honestly think you'd be able to eliminate me that easily Ulrich?" Kazuto says with pride.

"Not really, but I figured I'd eliminate you here and now and deal with Katsuo and Klein later on." Ulrich says with the same amount of pride.

"Then let me fight you with everything I've got Ulrich, I will not lose to you" Kazuto says proudly.

"Same to you, we both use dual weaponry, so we'll need to see who comes out victorious amongst us" Ulrich says, before beginning the clash.

* * *

Ulrich and Kazuto fight with their dual bladed weaponry for over 15 minutes and neither side seems to hold an advantage. They are beginning to make mistakes because of exhaustion, which Katsuo and Klein take advantage of, because they were taking cover out of sight.

"This is our perfect chance to defeat you both, prepare to be defeated!" Katsuo and Klein say before rushing to attack them.

Kazuto and Ulrich break away from their fight to keep Katsuo and Klein from taking victory. Klein uses his katana to pull off a few good hits on Kazuto, while Katsuo begins his attack on Ulrich. Right when they were going to inflict their final attacks, a voice is heard from outside the ring.

"Kirito-kun, everyone, get out of that arena, we finished cooking 10 minutes ago and we've been trying to find you!" Asuna says very angrily.

"...Uh-oh, Asuna is very scary when she's mad...we ought to leave now and try to keep that anger minimal..." Kazuto says in a very scared tone.

"Agreed..." Ulrich, Klein, and Katsuo say in a super scared tone, knowing how Asuna gets when she's mad.

They exit the arena to find Asuna, Kana, and Karen in the room, looking very annoyed. Ulrich and the others get shivers down their spines upon seeing those angry faces, they then head down to the dining hall to eat the meal that was prepared.

After they finish eating, they start up new conversation that last a few hours. They all notice it's gotten relatively late, with Kazuto, Asuna, Keiko, Rika, and Yui departing to their own homes to sleep one last time in Aincrad before leaving Aincrad tomorrow, as they are among the last few hundred people departing this game. Sylvia, Karen, Katsuo, and Kana reside in the estate with Ulrich as these four are the closest friends Ulrich has in the entire world of Aincrad.

"I guess this is our last full day in Aincrad, we've agreed to all log out tomorrow at noon." Katsuo says with relative sadness.

"Well, if what Kazuto said is true, I've become integrated with Cardinal's code, so I should be able to be with you outside of Aincrad to a limited extent." Ulrich says.

"I thought that thought made you depressed Ulrich?" Karen asks, wondering why Ulrich suddenly seems interested to do this.

"Knowing that you all are leaving kind of pushes me to do extreme things to make sure we all stay together" Ulrich says with a little doubt in his tone.

"We'll definitely have to meet up with Kazuto and Yui, I'm pretty sure that Heathcliff told Kazuto the admin code to this game, so we can use it to properly digitize you Ulrich" Karen says.

"Guys, let's continue this discussion tomorrow, we need rest" Katsuo says.

The group nods in approval and head out to their bedrooms to sleep for the night. The next morning, there's a light knock on Ulrich's door that he wouldn't even hear without his strong natural listening skill.

* * *

Aincrad Standard Time: [8:00] June 2nd, 2025

"Who is it?" Ulrich asks half asleep, wearing a new sleeping outfit he purchased on floor 80: a robe colored gold and brown.

"It's me, Karen, Katsuo and the others left already, we're meeting in floor One's hidden dungeon, underneath the Black Iron Castle. Would you mind if I came in?" Karen asks softly.

"Uh sure, come on in" Ulrich says.

Karen enters the room wearing a robe herself, the design is similar to Sylvia's back when he was living in Salemburg, but the colors are different with a purple color with red trims.

"Karen, when did you start wearing that?" Ulrich asks in utter shock.

"Keiko made it for me a few days ago, I like the colors of this outfit believe it or not...Anyway...do you like it?" Karen says in a casual tone, with a mild blush.

"Y-Yeah...it's nice..." Ulrich says nervously, he's trying to avoid making her mad.

"I see..." Karen says trying to hide her blush.

"Well... I suppose we should go, we don't want to keep the others waiting" Ulrich says.

"Right, let's go" Karen says with a nod.

Karen and Ulrich quickly change to their regular outfits and depart to floor 1's City of Beginning and walk to the Black Iron Castle where they find Kazuto, Yui, Asuna, Katsuo, Yui, and Kana outside the dungeon entrance.

* * *

Aincrad Standard Time: [10:00] June 2nd, 2025

"Good, you all have finally come, we can go to the admin console that exists in this dungeon." Kazuto says.

The group journey through the abandoned dungeon and find the safe room and reactivate the admin console to begin digitizing Ulrich's code to Kazuto's NerveGear.

"Wow...this dungeon was among one of the most dangerous in Aincrad and now it's outright empty..." Ulrich says in mild shock.

"Yeah, all monsters and NPCs were deactivated to prepare for the dismantling of Sword Art Online tonight." Kazuto says calmly. "I'm going to begin the procedure, are you ready Ulrich?" Kazuto asks.

"Yeah, I presume I'll be asleep while I'm in your NerveGear, so I'll see you all when I'm summoned" Ulrich says.

Kazuto starts the procedure to begin the digitization of Ulrich's character data to his NerveGear, so he'll be reborn as an Artificial Intelligence like Yui. Things appear to be going smoothly until

"Kazuto...I feel odd...is this supposed to happen?" Ulrich asks in confusion.

"What sensation do you have?" Kazuto asks, trying to figure out the specifics.

"It feels like a...transporting sensation" Ulrich says.

"Transporting...that's not supposed to happen..." Kazuto says worriedly.

Ulrich quickly begins to dissipate pixel by pixel, first starting with his legs

* * *

"Wha-What's happening?!" Ulrich asks in shock, still disappearing.

"I...I don't know!" Kazuto says freaking out.

The dissipation continues rapidly with only Ulrich's arms and everything above the upper torso remaining

"Ulrich, just stay calm, if I'm right, you're just being transferred to a different version of Cardinal, what that means is that you'll be sent to another VRMMORPG. When we log out, we will do our best to find you" Kazuto says trying to calm himself and Ulrich down.

The devirtualization is at the phase where Ulrich's head is left, who is smiling lightly and nods before he vanishes.

"What...? Where'd he go?!" Karen shouts in surprise.

"I don't know Karen...but don't worry, we'll find him" Katsuo says, trying to calm down Karen.


	2. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Ulrich has vanished from his friends in the world of Aincrad and appeared in another VRMMORPG, will he be able to reunite with his friends?

Rated: AU Fiction T

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works._

Author Notes: If you want to understand this story fully, I would highly recommend reading my previous work: Code Aincrad.

I need to give credit to Latiosus for Beta reading this chapter

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [10:30] August 1st, 2025

Ulrich suddenly vanished from the world of Aincrad because of a mistake in the conversion process to another VRMMORPG according to his friend: Kazuto. After two months of slow reconstruction and transferring, Ulrich materializes in the sky, roughly...two hundred feet above a forest and quickly begins to fall, which is obviously scaring him.

"Ah damn damn damn! There's no way I'm going to survive this!" Ulrich shouts.

Ulrich is still quickly falling and will hit the ground in less than 20 seconds.

"If someone's there, please help me!" Ulrich shouts during the fall.

Right when Ulrich would've crashed to the ground, he gets saved by another player who appears to have wings on her back.

"Are you okay, whoever you are?" The player asks somewhat worried, when Ulrich notices, it's a female player with clothed in green and white with long blonde hair.

"I am now, I'm glad you saved me..." Ulrich says out of gratitude, but slows down when he would address the person.

"My name is Leafa, what's yours?"

"I'm Ul-" Ulrich cuts off but he thinks he should use a different identity for the time being, with Leafa tilting her head in confusion.

"I'm Ulkaios, I'm pleased to meet you Leafa." Ulrich improvised.

"Same to you Ulkaios, are you new to Alfheim Online?"

"_So this must be another VRMMORPG, just like Kazuto said_" Ulrich says to himself but says out loud "Yeah, I'm new to Alfheim Online, but when I created this character, I spawned in mid-air about to crash, but you saved me from that fate" Ulrich says, looking sheepish.

"I see, it's rare for that to happen to players starting out, anyway, it's only right for me to help a fellow Sylph." Leafa states proudly.

"_So...I'm a...Sylph in this world?_" Ulrich thinks to himself.

"I don't want to rush you, but we really shouldn't stay here, the Salamanders tend to frequent this area, I just recently saved a Spriggan in this area named Kirito yesterday. He's been staying with me for a little while." Leafa says.

"_Kirito?! Is it a coincidence? Is Kazuto in this world?_" Ulrich says to himself in shock. "Leafa...you said you saved a player named...Kirito? Could you try bringing me to where he last was?" Ulrich says in a relatively pushy tone.

"Uh...sure, I dropped him off in Sylvain, it's about a 30 minute flight from here…" Leafa trailed off, looking mildly confused.

"...Flight? What do you mean Leafa?" Ulrich asks, utterly confused.

"Oh yeah...you're new to this game, um...there's a flight engine in this game that allows the players to fly, though it's not unlimited," Leafa explains. "It'll take too long if we walk from here to Sylvain, we need to fly if we want to reach Sylvain quickly. Here, let me teach you how to use the flight engine." Leafa continues while walking around to Ulrich's back.

"Wh...what are you doing Leafa?" Ulrich asks slightly in fear.

"Just calm down." Leafa tries to sooth him while walking to Ulrich's back, puts her hand on his back and applies some force.

"He-Hey! What gives?!" Ulrich says freaked out when Leafa started touching his back.

"Relax, what I'm doing is a good lesson for new players, anyway, try to imagine bones and muscle spreading out around here and try to move them" Leafa spoke in a surprisingly compassionate tone, also a tone of an instructor.

"This r_eminds me of when Yui helped me back in Aincrad..._" Ulrich says to himself.

Ulrich summons his dark green wings, following Leafa's instructions and manages to get them fully spread out and instinctively flies afterwards, with Leafa nearby, also in flight.

"You're pretty smart, far smarter than that Kirito, he couldn't even do this on his first try… it took me ten minutes to get him to do this." She laughed as she recalled Kirito's spiraling flight.

The pair flies to Sylvain, the Sylph capital and stop by the inn where Leafa dropped off Kirito. They arrive at the inn to find a player dressed in nearly all black sitting on a small stool at a table.

"_Is that...Kazuto?_" Ulrich asks to himself.

"Hello Kirito-kun, I see you've logged back in." Leafa says in a friendly tone.

"Ah, Leafa, good to see you, who's your friend?" Kirito asks, Ulrich gasped quietly to himself, recognizing Kazuto's voice.

"This is Ulkaios, he's a new player of Alfheim Online. I saved him in the same general area we met yesterday."

"I'm pleased to meet you Ulkaios" Kazuto says, apparently not realizing that Ulrich is Ulkaios.

Ulrich can't stand the thought of Kazuto being unaware of the fact his friend is literally in the same room, so he decides to take steps to prevent this from getting out of hand.

"Leafa, do you think I can talk to Kirito alone for a minute?" Ulrich requested.

"Sure, I'll wait outside for you both." Leafa says before departing.

"What did you need to talk to me about Ulkaios?" Kazuto asks.

Ulrich looks around to see if there's any other players around

"Kazuto, it's me! Ulrich! You know, from Aincrad" Ulrich hissed just above the level of a general conversation, but not quite shouting.

"Wait...Ulrich?! What are you doing here in Alfheim? I saw you vanish in Aincrad nearly two months ago" Kazuto exclaimed, clearly shocked.

"It's been two months? Wow, so I've lost two months' worth of time… Anyway, what happened to Karen and the others?" Ulrich asked.

"We haven't had a chance to meet up yet, I've been undergoing physical therapy since I left Aincrad. However...a good number of SAO players haven't returned to reality actually." Kazuto informed him quietly.

"Who hasn't returned?" Ulrich asks, somewhat concerned.

"Asuna, Karen, Kana, Katsuo, Sylvia, and around 200 to 300 other players have not returned to reality. Agil showed me a picture of Asuna being in this game. If Asuna's here, I suspect the others are here as well." Kazuto revealed his suspicions.

"Have they been able to get together to try figuring out what happened?"

"I have no idea, I just started playing this MMO yesterday after I heard Asuna was here."

"I see, we should get going, before Leafa gets mad at us, anyway for now, do you think you could call me Ulkaios? I'll call you Kirito in public."

"Certainly...Ulkaios..." Kazuto muttered, with a little difficulty, finding it uneasy to call his close friend by this new name.

* * *

Kirito and Ulrich leave the inn to find Leafa waiting for them.

"Kirito-kun, you said you wanted me to bring you to Aarun?" Leafa asks.

"Yeah, I have a friend near there, I need to get there" Kazuto says quietly.

"I actually may have friends of my own in this game, I want to try finding them if possible" Ulrich says.

"Do you know what their names are? Or their race?" Leafa asked.

"Not particularly…" Ulrich trailed off sadly.

"That's going to make things difficult, I think there are at least 500,000 players in this game minimal." Leafa says with a small sigh, trying not to shatter Ulrich's hope.

The trio depart to the markets since Kirito has asked to buy new weaponry, and Ulrich is hoping to check out their inventory of katanas if possible. Kirito buys a large 'Black Iron Great Sword', while Ulrich buys a katana with the name: Liberator. Ulrich bought this new katana since he doesn't have any of the items or equipment from Aincrad; but he does have around 800,000 Yuld.

Around this moment, a female player nearby, dressed in primarily purple and red, who looks rather similar to Karen, walks by the stall, which Kirito and Ulrich notice right away. She slows down slightly when she arrives near the weapon stall, apparently looking for wares herself. Ulrich decides to test if the person is who he thinks it is, as he's pretty certain this player is who he thinks it is.

"Excuse me, have we met before?" Ulrich asks the player.

"Hm? Are you speaking to me?" The girl asks absentmindedly not really paying attention to the person talking, until she realizes that they are indeed talking to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I've been a little pre-occupied, I'm trying to find some friends of mine scattered all over." The girl says, still not quite paying full attention to the pair talking to her.

"I see…" Ulrich says calmly.

"I'm also looking for a...very good friend of mine as well, but I have my doubts he's in this world to be honest..." she trailed off, blushing slightly.

"Really, what are their game names? If you don't know the ones here in this world, what about the ones you remember?" Ulrich asks calmly, in a tone that he seemingly knows this person now.

"Normally, I'd be hesitant to say, but with game names, I'm looking for players who went by Masaru, Amaterasu, and Elena. With...that very good friend, his name is...Ulrich..." The girl trailed off, her blush having faded while she had been talking and yet when she reached Ulrich's name, she went bright red.

Kazuto muffled his gasp as he recognizes the voice of this character now, alongside the fact she knew Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, and Ulrich. This girl really is Solaris, or as she was commonly called by her close friends: Karen. Kazuto and Leafa walk toward Ulrich as they finished their shopping.

"What's wrong with you guys? Is it that rare talking to someone from the Imp race?" Leafa sighed. "Ulkaios, I'll trust you to keep Kirito-kun safe; bring him to the tower when you finish this conversation." Leafa leaves the area to get to the tower.

"Wait...Kirito...?" The girl sounded surprised.

"I'm glad to see you again, Karen Koizumi" Ulrich whispered loud enough for her to hear him.

The girl gasps in surprise. Understandable considering how someone knew her real name.

"How...how do you know my name?" Karen tries to talk calmly, in an attempt to disguise her fear.

"My name is Ulkaios in this world, but you know me as Ulrich." Ulrich states rather proudly.

Karen gasps even louder, she presumed Ulrich was no longer even alive after the incident in Aincrad.

"Ulrich...? Is that really you?" Karen was not able to believe herself in the slightest, subconsciously hugging Ulrich.

"It's me alright, I'm glad I got to see you again Karen." Ulrich says with a tear in his eye, hugging Karen back, also subconsciously.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd prefer going by our in game names, that is, until we find the others" Karen says quietly, letting go of the hug after saying this.

"Okay then, my in game name is Ulkaios, Kazuto is still using the name Kirito, and what's yours?"

"This character is named Ashikaga" Karen says.

"Alright, Ulkaios, Ashikaga, we should get going, before Leafa gets angry at us" Kazuto says seriously.

"Right, let's get going" Karen says.

Ulrich, Karen, and Kazuto depart to the tower where Leafa is waiting for them. While the trio is walking towards the tower, they get a lot of negative stares from other Sylph players.

"Kirito, can you think of a reason why these Sylphs seem to hate us?" Karen whispered to the Spriggan.

"No clue, though Leafa did mention that I wouldn't be welcome here much, maybe they don't like other races here" Kazuto says quietly.

"It could be why Leafa told me to keep you safe." Ulrich interjected.

They arrive at the tower after 10 minutes of walking, with Karen being the guide, which is embarrassing slightly for Ulrich. They enter the tower to find Leafa arguing with a small group of Slyphs.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [12:00] August 1st, 2025

"Leafa, do you think you could leave our party and think there'd be no consequences?" The leader of the group demanded angrily.

"You told me that I could join when I had the time Sigurd, and that I could leave whenever I wished." Leafa replied angrily.

"You're one of our most famous players in our party. If you leave suddenly with no reason, you'll damage my reputation."

"Ulrich, we need to help her." Karen whispers.

"You're right Karen...wait, what is Kazuto doing?" Ulrich whispers back.

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Karen see Kazuto walking towards Sigurd.

"Party members are not items" Kazuto says in his usual calm tone.

"What did you say Spriggan?" Sigurd demands.

"You can't keep players in you party all the time, as if they were your equipment" Kazuto says calmly.

"You dare lecture me you damn Spriggan?!" Sigurd was getting angrier; his hand had strayed to his sword, in preparation to draw it.

"Ulrich, we can't stand around now, Kazuto may need our help." Karen whispers in a serious tone.

"Yeah, let's go." Ulrich whispers.

The pair was on their way towards the group when Sigurd started talking again.

"You clearly must be a renegade player who got kicked out of his own territory!" Sigurd exclaims.

"Don't be mean Sigurd, I'm partying with Kirito-kun now" Leafa retorts straight back to him.

"Leafa, whoever you are," here he jabbed a finger at Ulrich, "do you plan on abandoning the Sylphs and becoming a renegade like this Spriggan?" Sigurd demands with minor confusion at the arrival of a new Sylph, but still his anger burned.

Leafa looks slightly flabbergasted, but regains her composure very quickly.

"Yeah, I'm leaving Sylvain" Leafa resolves angrily.

"I have little loyalty to the Sylphs, so I have no problem leaving either, and my name is Ulkaios" Ulrich snapped angrily, he's pissed that this...Sigurd is harassing Leafa and Kazuto.

"Count me in too Leafa" Karen says.

"Ulkaios...whoever you are, you're coming with me?" Leafa asks in shock.

"My name is Ashikaga, and yeah, I am." Karen states.

Sigurd gets even angrier and draws his sword pointing it at Kazuto, with Ulrich and Karen drawing their weapons as well.

"Don't...even...think about it..." Karen growls angrily, she has no problem fighting other players if they're harassing her friends.

"As long as you were just going to fly around aimlessly, I wouldn't have bothered to deal with this. However, since you aim to be a thief, I have no choice but to deal with you. Since you're here in Sylph territory, you have no issues with dying, right Spriggan?" Sigurd demanded.

Kazuto looks shocked for half a second then merely sighs, probably because Sigurd does not scare him at all after everything he's experienced in Aincrad.

One of Sigurd's colleagues finally speaks out.

"This isn't the time Sigurd, if you kill someone who isn't even able to fight back in front of everyone..."

Sigurd gasps in shock and looks around to the surrounding Sylphs in the tower staring at him. He reluctantly sheathes his weapon, with Karen and Ulrich doing the same, and says;

"Once you leave Sylvain, you had better run and hide Leafa. If you betray me, you'll regret it immediately." Sigurd states in a cold tone before departing with his group.

"Leafa, are you sure about abandoning your territory? I don't want you throwing everything away for me." Kirito says with relative sadness.

Leafa is quiet and merely pushes Kazuto towards the center elevator, and motions Ulrich and Karen to follow. When they exit the elevator, they find themselves on the top of the tower, which offers an incredible view of the surrounding fields.

"This view is incredible..." Kazuto and Karen say at the same time.

"I know right, whenever I come up here and gaze at the sky, it makes everything else feel so tiny in comparison." Leafa says while reaching out to the sky with her right arm. "This was a good chance for me actually. I've been wanting to leave Sylvain for a while now."

"But...I feel like I forced you to leave on a bad note..." Kazuto seemed sad.

Karen and Ulrich glance at Kirito, surprised that Kazuto is being so compassionate towards Leafa.

"I couldn't think of any other way I could leave Sylvain, Kirito-kun." Leafa states, absolutely nonchalant at leaving.

"Leafa, Ashikaga, do either of you know what a 'renegade' is?" Kazuto asks.

"A renegade is a player who abandons their territory. They're greatly hated by other players." Karen looked down sadly; she herself is considered a renegade.

"Leafa, are you sure about this? You're going to rather long lengths for someone you just recently met." Kazuto says in surprise.

"Yeah, but I don't know why players dislike renegades so much, even if they're renegade, they're still a part of their nation." Leafa still sounded as though she didn't care.

There's a little silence before a voice is heard

"Humans are so complex; I don't understand why they desire to seek others to appear in such unusual ways." A small fairy appears from Kirito's coat pocket.

"What do you mean?" Leafa asks.

"_Wait...is that...Yui?_" Karen and Ulrich muttered to themselves.

"I'd want to express emotion in simple ways." Yui says after kissing Kazuto's cheek.

"That's some AI, she nearly seems human. Are all private pixies like that?" Leafa asked, just slightly curious.

"She's...weirder than most AIs." Kazuto says with a light blush from the kiss, stuffing Yui in his coat pocket.

"I see. The desire to seek others...-" Leafa whispered to herself.

"Not to ruin the moment, but I think we should get going." Karen pointed out, interrupting the conversation.

"Right, let's go" Leafa says before she gets interrupted by a voice coming from the elevator.

"Leafa!" The voice called out, as the elevator door opens.

"Oh, Recon." Leafa asks.

"I can't believe you Leafa; you should've said something before you left!" Recon says.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention it Recon." Leafa laughed.

Recon sighs "Leafa, they said you left our group".

"Well...I did it from the spur of the moment actually... What are you going to do Recon?" Leafa says nonchalantly.

"I want to go with you Leafa but...there's something bothering me so, I need to do a little investigation so I'm going to be staying with Sigurd's party for a while. Kirito, Ashikaga, Ulkaios, Leafa has a tendency to get into trouble, so be careful." Recon says with mixed tones, he must've been in the lobby where they were and overheard the fight.

"Understood." Kazuto, Karen, and Ulrich replied in unison.

"And just to make things a little clear, Leafa's my-" Recon was cut off by Leafa stomping on his foot.

"The four of us are going to be in neutral territory for a while, send me a message if you need anything Recon." Leafa called out, not showing any anger.

Leafa and the others took off from the tower and begin flying away from Sylvain. They fly for roughly an hour when Ulrich begins shaking

"What's going on? I'm feeling a little weak..." Ulrich says feeling exhausted.

"I told you that you can't fly forever, we're probably reaching our limits, let's touch down and take a break." Leafa explained.

"Are you going to be alright Ulkaios?" Karen asked, concerned.

"I...don't know." Ulrich shook his head sadly.

"What's wrong Ulkaios? Are you feeling exhausted?" Leafa asks.

"I don't know. I hate that I'm being a burden though." Ulrich says quietly, he always hates when he's holding people back, intentionally or not.

"It's okay, the Ancient Forest is nearby, how about we stop there." Leafa proposed.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [16:00] August 1st, 2025

The group of four decide to rest on a small island among many above the forest. Leafa and Kazuto are still in good shape and decide to hunt some wyverns, with Kazuto using his sword and Leafa demonstrating a unique skill of magic. However, Ulrich is feeling exhausted and Karen decided to sit with him while he rests.

"Ulrich, are you alright? Do you have the same situation as our time in Aincrad?" Karen asks.

"I don't know... I may regret asking this, but I want you to slash me." Ulrich says.

"Are you insane?! If it's the same situation like Aincrad, you'll be in pain if I slash you!" Karen says in utter shock.

"Just do it! Remember that I'm good at minimizing the pain's effects"

"Ugh...if you insist..." Karen muttered to herself angrily, not liking what Ulrich's requesting of her.

Karen draws a small sword she bought in Sylvain for 300 Yuld and very reluctantly slashes Ulrich's arm, leaving a gash of data three inches deep.

"Ulrich...how do you feel?" Karen looked concerned at the unreadable look on Ulrich's face

"I feel...nothing, I can't feel pain here!" Ulrich broke into a grin.

"That's wonderful...I was so scared for a minute there." Karen sighs in relief.

"Anyway, Karen, since you're here, were you able to find any clues on where Katsuo and the others are?"

"Sadly no, though, I've been working with a player named Okamoto to try finding them, but we split ways for a while before I went to Sylvain. She told me she was going to wait for me in Lugru, an underground city."

"I see, does that mean you'll need to leave us to find this Okamoto...um, would you mind if I called you Ash as a nickname?" Ulrich asked cautiously at the end, he doesn't want to accidentally get her pissed off.

"Go ahead, Aio, anyway, to answer your question, not necessarily, I asked her to keep in touch with me on occasion. We met about two or three days after I was made a renegade." Karen says.

"Aio? Really?" Ulrich asks disappointedly.

"If you want to call me Ash, I'm going to call you Aio, atleast, while we're using these new names. I could've easily decided to call you Ai, which is a girl's name" Karen smirked at the look on Ulrich's face.

"Okay, okay, I'm okay with Aio, just...please don't call me Ai..." Ulrich pleads desperately.

"Understood" Karen laughed.

"How long have you all been here actually?" Ulrich asks.

"Around two months, I can't recognize anyone from Aincrad aside from voice, to be truthfully honest. So I've been on my own, desperately trying to find people from Aincrad and establish a place for us to meet up." Karen's mood dropped immediately to sad.

"Well, now that the two of us and Kazuto are reunited, we'll do our best to find the others" Ulrich says happily.

"Yeah, we'll find them before too long" Karen says, trying to sound happy.

Kazuto and Leafa touch down on the island looking a little worried about something.

"Ulkaios, Ashikaga, would you mind watching over our bodies while we log out?" Leafa asks.

"Uh...sure, but if you wouldn't mind, could you call us Ash and Aio? We know our game names are long, so we wanted to make things simpler." Karen says.

"Sure, Ash, Aio, anyway, we'll be back later" Leafa says, with Kazuto nodding.

Their bodies remain motionless for a time, the sign of delayed log outs, so Karen and Ulrich exchange more conversation.

* * *

"What race is Okamoto? I'm a little curious" Ulrich asks.

"She's a Cait Sith, she's rarely serious, but she's a good friend to have, she knows nearly everything about this game. She's been helping me out in exchange for me saving her life against a very large group of Wyverns." Karen says.

"I see I'll trust your faith in this person Karen." Ulrich says calmly.

"Thanks, she did mention she was going to get a friend to come meet me in Lugru."

"I'm glad you've made new friends here, but I hope we can find Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia soon" Ulrich says with mixed feelings.

"I miss them too Ulrich, the sooner we're reunited, the happier I'll be." Karen says quietly.

After she says this, she opens her inventory screen and summons two small boxes that appear to have wrapping over it. She hands one to Ulrich.

"What's this Karen?" Ulrich asks with a slight frown.

"It's a bento; I made around three dozen before I went to Sylvain, flying actually makes me feel exhausted after a while. I made this many to prepare myself when I fly a long time. It's also for general consumption, even though our bodies still live in the real world, our minds still work and we need food. Take one, I imagine you're hungry." Karen says, holding back a minor blush.

"I can see how that would work and...I'm glad you always went the extra mile to help me back in Aincrad and now. Thank you Karen" Ulrich says in a grateful tone, blushing lightly at the generous gesture.

"U...Um...it's nothing, I had to do it because in our group of five, the only other master cook was Kana and she was busy taking care of Katsuo." Karen says nervously while blushing, trying to pull off a tsundere-style explanation, which does not faze Ulrich, as he's been around Karen long enough to know when she's lying.

"Still, I'm grateful" Ulrich says.

"So you two really are who I thought you were" The navigation pixie: Yui says.

"Yui, is that really you?" Karen asks in mild shock.

"That's right, I'm glad to see you Karen, Ulrich" Yui says happily.

"Yui, I want to ask you, with your AI background, would it be possible for you to find Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia?" Karen asks, wanting to get to business as soon as possible.

"Sadly no, I no longer have access to admin controls, all I can access is map data, and character profiles to a VERY limited extent." Yui says sadly, feeling guilty about the lack of abilities she has access to in this world.

"You said you can access profiles, how far can you go with that?" Karen inquires about that ability Yui has.

"All I have access to is character name and the date they joined" Yui says quietly.

"Yui, if you can, could you compile a list of players who joined in the last two months? It would help lower the odds." Karen asks seriously, if they want to find the others, they need to lower the number of variables.

"Let me see..." Yui says while putting her hands on both sides of her head. "There are only fifteen players who started playing within the last two months, but I can see that five of them entered the system through unknown methods."

"Yui, can you tell which players entered the game in that fashion?" Ulrich asks curiously.

"Sadly no, the system of the game won't let me do so." Yui said sadly. "But I can you all the names of the players" Yui continued, "There's you, Karen, Papa, a Salamander named Yamakage, a Leprechaun named Krisaga, a Puca named Minatoya, a Cait Sith named Okamoto, and various other players in the other factions. But Cardinal is keeping all of specifics of their character data encrypted from me..." Yui says calmly and frowned slightly at the end.

"Okay, I know Okamoto first hand, and she's not from SAO, I know that much, I've heard of Yamakage, he's very fierce and has made it pretty high up the Salamander military chain of command, and he's only been here a couple of months. Though I don't know the others... but they match the requirements, so we should begin tracking down Yamakage or Minatoya first" Karen said

"I hate to say it, but I think we should put this conversation aside and try to eat before Kazuto and Leafa return" Ulrich pointed out.

"Right, we'll save it for later" Karen says calmly. "Actually, Yui, are you hungry?" Karen asks worriedly.

"Not really Karen, my conversion into a Navigation Pixie removed my need to eat, but I won't turn down food if you offer it Karen" Yui says quietly and happily at the end.

"Very well Yui, let me bring out a new bento box, but I think it'll be too large considering your pixie form, would it be possible for you to change to human form?" Karen says, opening her inventory window.

Yui changes her to her human form, accepts the bento and begins eating. They eat the food that Karen made and talk more while they're eating.

"Karen, you don't need to answer but, you seemed to know alot about the whole renegade thing, is there a reason for that?" Ulrich asks curiously, he noticed Karen looking down when talking about it back on the tower.

"Well...It happened a few days after I arrived in this world, a few players noticed how talented I was with strategies, so I was drafted into the Imp army. We were fighting a boss in the mountains to the northeast of Imp territory, and...I was placed in a unit who were assigned to act as an aerial distraction for that boss. I didn't even know I could fly, and obviously to that, I didn't know how I could pull off such a thing. I...I left them behind and ran in the direction of Dragon Valley...I received a notice an hour later telling me that I was exiled from the Imp nation on the charge of desertion. I traveled along the northern ends of Dragon Valley when I noticed Okamoto near the entrance to Ruger Corridor two or three days later. That's how I was made a renegade..." Karen says, with her head down in sadness, as these events scarred her, but not as much as Aincrad though.

"Oh...I'm sorry about asking about it Karen...I didn't want to bring up such painful memories." Ulrich says with regret with having to force her to recall things she may have wanted to keep quiet.

"It's no problem, I don't mind talking about such things...as long as its you..." Karen says calmly, but quietly and blushing lightly at the end of her statement.

"O-Oh...I...see" Ulrich says in a mildly embarrassed tone, catching on to what Karen's feeling a little bit.

Shortly after they finish eating the food, Yui returns to pixie form and goes inside Kazuto's coat pocket, and almost immediately after, there is stirring from Kazuto's and Leafa's bodies, which means they've come back from their log out status.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [16:30] August 1st, 2025

"I'm back" Kazuto and Leafa both say.

"Welcome back Kirito, Leafa" Ash says.

Leafa and Kazuto stretch their arms a few times when Leafa asks in a casual tone

"Ash, Aio, are you both ready to go? We plan to stop by Lugru; it's a halfway point to Aarun."

"Really? I have friends who told me they'd meet me there" Karen says happily.

"Okay, now we have even more reason to go there." Kazuto pointed out.

They depart the floating island and arrive at the cave entrance; however Kazuto is feeling uneasy about something.

"Leafa, Aio, Ash, do you feel like you're being watched?" Kirito asks.

"Not particularly." Leafa says while Karen and Ulrich shook their heads.

"Maybe it's just me then." Kazuto says.

They enter the caves and proceed at a casual speed. They get roughly half way when…

"Okay, now I'm sure, I'm hearing something from the way we came" Kazuto says out of mild annoyance.

"It's faint, but I can hear something...flapping" Ulrich frowned.

"I can detect players approach from behind us!" Yui says in surprise.

"Yui? How many of them are there?" Karen asks in concern.

"There's twelve of them." Yui says, eyes wide.

"Twelve?! That's too many for a casual group, it has to be a Pker group" Leafa says in shock.

"This game allows PKers? Wouldn't that feature be counter-productive?" Ulrich asks, with the events of Aincrad still very fresh in his mind.

"Not particularly...in fact, in this game Pking is very much encouraged, as a way to build up player skill" Leafa shakes her head.

Leafa flees to an alcove and beckons the others to hurry there, which they quickly do. Once the group is behind the alcove, Leafa casts a spell to cover the area with concealment magic. They hide behind it for a minute when Leafa gasps.

"What is it Leafa?" Ulrich whispers.

Leafa notices a red eyed bat in the distance, runs out of the barrier and casts a projectile spell to shoot down the bat, which succeeds.

"That was a high level fire elemental tracer" Leafa says in fear.

"Fire elemental so...that means..." Karen says, trying to figure out what that means and gasps, knowing the answer.

"We can't stay here! Get to Lugru!" Leafa shouts to the others while running.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [18:30] August 1st, 2025

The group runs to Lugru as fast as humanely possible, they make it to the far end of the bridge to the city when they start hearing voices not far from them.

"That's Lugru, we need to hurry! If we can get inside the city, we'll be safe from PKers as long as we stay inside!" Leafa shouts.

They make it to the gates of the city but a large earth wall rises in front of them, preventing them from entering.

"We're trapped...We have no choice but to fight the Salamanders" Kazuto says with annoyance in his voice.

"We need a strategy... Kirito and Aio are good melee fighters, Leafa, I imagine you're a talented mage and healer right?" Karen says trying to devise a strong strategy, knowing she has less than two minutes, three at the max.

"Yeah, I'm a decent mage and healer, but what are you trying to do Ash?" Leafa asks.

"I'm trying to think of a strategy for us to fight the Salamanders, anyway I'm okay with healing magic but I'm very good at offensive magic. Leafa, I want you to handle healing Kirito and Aio while they fight the Salamanders and barriers on them and me. I'll use my own magic to assist you." Karen says with her pride on the line.

"I recognize that strategy Ash, you certainly changed it a bit, but I recognize it" Ulrich says.

"Okay everyone, take up formation!" Karen says with pride.

Karen and Leafa stay near the stone wall while Kazuto and Ulrich step forward to begin the fight. A force of twelve Salamanders charge towards Ulrich and his group.

"Okay guys just follow my strategy and we should win, but try to anticipate their actions" Karen says.

The vanguard of the Salamander task force appear to be three heavy shield users, backed up by six mages and three healers.

"_Kazuto, if you can, I want you to distract the shield users while I try to jump over them. The biggest challenge to that is the mages, they could blast me and stop that from happening but, it could work_" Ulrich whispers to Kazuto.

"_If you think you can pull it off Ulrich, then go ahead and do it, I got your back_" Kazuto whispers to Ulrich with a thumbs up.

Kazuto charges at the Salamanders to create a distraction for his friend. After the diversion is created, Ulrich uses his sprint skill and uses the speed to jump over the Salamander vanguard, which surprisingly succeeds, and the mages aren't able to blast him quickly enough to force him back in front of the vanguard.

"Distraction successful, start phase beta!" Karen shouts.

"Got it!" Ulrich and Kazuto shout, seeing very powerful magic of various elements sent by Karen, flying above them to the mage group, but it is deflected by a barrier the mages created.

Ulrich quickly uses his katana to slay all three members of the vanguard since their attention was on Kazuto. Ulrich and Kazuto then rush towards the mages; however, they keep using magic to push them back in sequence and to protect themselves from the hostile magic from Karen. Because of the systematic magic sequence the Salamander mages are using, Ulrich and Kazuto are quickly sent back to where Leafa and Karen are.

"Aio, try to buy me some time, I'm going to cast a spell!" Kazuto shouts.

"Got it!" Ulrich shouts.

Ulrich charges at the mages trying to buy time for whatever Kazuto is preparing. Although Ulrich is doing his best to buy time by deflecting as many spells as possible, he's getting sent back repeatedly because of all the powerful spells being targeted directly at him, which is taking its toll.

"Kirito, I can't keep this up much longer! Remember that I can only take so many of these!" Ulrich shouts.

Thankfully, because of the time Ulrich bought for him, Kazuto successfully casted the spell and transformed into a monster that resembled the Gleam Eyes from floor 75 of Aincrad. Upon the spell's success, Kazuto charges at the Salamanders and begins slaying them all, but right when Kazuto would've grabbed and finished the last mage in the group.

"Kirito-kun, spare that Salamander, we can get information from him!" Leafa shouts.

Kazuto releases the player who is surrounded by Ulrich, Leafa, and Karen, with their weapons pointed at him.

"If you want us to spare your life, tell us who sent you here!" Karen says in anger.

"I'd rather die!" The Salamander says.

"Why you..." Leafa says angrily.

"That was more fun than I thought. Though, if I was on my own, I wouldn't have survived a minute" Kazuto says rather amused.

"Hang on, Kirito-kun!" Leafa says in shock.

"Give me a little bit of time." Kazuto says calmly. "I have an offer for you; this is the equipment and money I got from the Salamanders. Answer me truthfully, and you can have it all" Kazuto says very happily.

The Salamander player looks around and asks

"Are you serious about this offer?" The Salamander asks, his resolve starting to waver.

"I am" Kazuto says, rather mischievously.

Leafa and Yui look away in utter disappointment, with Ulrich and Karen looking for a way to take down the earth wall, also disappointed in Kazuto at the moment.

* * *

Karen and Ulrich's POV:

Karen and Ulrich are inspecting the stone wall blocking the gate to Lugru to see if there's any way to destroy it. Ulrich slashed at it repeatedly with a sword Karen had in her inventory to no results, and outright shattering it upon the eighth hit, with Ulrich looking guilty now.

"Um...sorry Karen..." Ulrich says sadly, and quietly about the fact the sword broke, not wanting this heard beyond the two of them.

"It's no problem, I bought that sword as a cheap, throwaway weapon, you know that I don't use swords, I always use my trusted spear" Karen says proudly, doing two full spins for comedic effect before putting it back in her inventory.

"Anyway...melee combat won't do any good against this wall...what about magic?" Karen says in mild anger over the plan of melee failing, and then begins casting an incantation for a simple fire spell, and when it hits the wall, it merely leaves a scorch mark. "Well...that didn't work...you might want to step back a little Ulrich, I'm about to use dark magic here..." Karen says in a grave tone.

Ulrich steps back in fear when Karen begins the incantation for a high level dark magic spell results in a large dark crimson fireball being formed which is sent to the wall and erupts into a dark inferno, which surprisingly is able to destroy the wall, with Karen collapsing apparently out of exhaustion.

"Karen, you okay?!" Ulrich asks worriedly.

"I'll be fine with a little rest...using dark magic on that level causes penalties, it also takes alot out of me..." Karen says weakly.

"I'll believe you, but don't push it okay, I don't want you to get hurt..." Ulrich says in concern over his friend.

"...Thanks Ulrich..." Karen says in mild joy, looking away to hide her mild blush.

* * *

Kazuto, Leafa, and Yui's POV:

"Are all men like that?" Leafa says, disappointed.

"Daddy's rather blunt like that, Leafa..." Yui says with a sigh.

Kazuto and the Salamander player agree to the terms so he spills his guts about what he knows.

"Earlier this evening, my group leader: G-Takusu, err, the leader of the mage squad, contacted me in real life and told me to log in to meet up with the group. When I logged in, I was told that a group of twelve was going hunting for a group of two. I thought it was a bit overkill but G-Takusu said you were the ones who defeated Kagemune, so it made sense." The Salamander player explains.

"Kagemune? Who's that?" Kazuto asks.

"Kagemune is the Lancer Squad leader. He's famous for hunting Sylphs, but yesterday, he got wiped out in battle and fled back to Gadan. I presume it was because of you." The Salamander continues.

"But why did G-Takusu come after me and Kirito-kun?" Leafa asks.

"I have no idea, but this order came from Yamakage, our best major in the military, he said something about you all interfering with our plan." The Salamander says.

Since they brought the wall down, Ulrich and Karen walk toward Kazuto and Leafa, hoping they've gotten something useful from the Salamander, with the two of them overhearing when this Salamander mentioned G-Takusu.

"Plan? What plan?" Karen asks.

"Do you think they'd tell someone at the bottom of the totem pole like me about important plans? But from mere sight, it's something major in scope. When I logged in earlier, I saw a huge number of us heading north being led by Major Yamakage and General Eugene." The Salamander explained

"Are they...going for the World Tree?" Leafa asks.

"No way, we all agreed we wouldn't try that until our entire army was outfitted with ancient class equipment. We're saving up so we can pull that off. That's all I know about this topic, honest."

The man then whispers to Kazuto. "You weren't lying about your offer from earlier… right?"

"Yeah, I never lie about trades." Kazuto states with far too much pride for the circumstance they were in, that leaves Leafa and Karen utterly disgusted, with Yui and Ulrich shaking their heads in disappointment over Kazuto's actions here.

They part ways and begin the trek to Lugru.

"Kirito-kun...I may regret asking but...did those players...taste like anything?" Leafa asked, slightly curious and yet disgusted at the same time

"They had a texture like yakiniku just before it's burnt." Kazuto says in his usual, blunt tone.

"Uh… actually, never mind. Don't say it." Leafa made a motion for him to stop with her hand, not wanting to hear more.

Kazuto turns his head with an evil glint in his eye and suddenly grabs Leafa's left arm.

"_Wh-What are you doing?!_" Leafa shouts in her mind.

Kazuto suddenly chomps on Leafa's left hand which causes her to yelp. This results in Kazuto getting heavily slapped, bright red hand mark appeared on his cheek due to the absurdly accurately effects of the game and nearly gets sent off the bridge and into the river.

* * *

(A/N: I left this cliffhanger intentionally; I find it's fitting for him to suffer this way.)


	3. Chapter 2: Blazing Inferno Leaders

Ulrich has found 2 of his friends from Aincrad: Karen and Kirito. Ulrich now has to find Katsuo, Sylvia, and Amaterasu (Kana's true name). However trouble seems to be unfolding after hearing of a large Salamander military battalion not far away.

Rated: AU Fiction T

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works._

Author Notes: If you want to understand this story fully, I would highly recommend reading my previous work: Code Aincrad.

I need to give credit to Latiosus for Beta reading this chapter.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [19:00] August 1st, 2025

"The wall's down, we can enter Lugru now." Karen says.

"Excellent, let's go, you have friends here, right Ash? And…" Ulrich trailed off, "What happened to Kirito?" Ulrich asks, looking around for the familiar black figure of his friend, having not seen him going over the edge of the bridge, with him barely holding on.

"Kirito-kun got stupid, so I was forced to slap him." Leafa was glaring at the bridge's end.

"Yeah, Okamoto told me she'd be here, she loves being in the town squares. Meet up with me there when you all finish your business." Karen says with optimism before departing.

Leafa, Kirito, and Ulrich inspect the city of Lugru with awe when Leafa broke the silence between them.

"So this is Lugru…" Leafa chirped happily.

"...Ouch..." Kazuto muttered under his breath, while rubbing the glowing red hand mark on his cheek.

"Kirito, you had that coming for what you did to Leafa." Ulrich states without any trace of sympathy.

"It was a joke, the atmosphere was tense, and I wanted to lighten it a little." Kazuto muttered back.

"Try it again and I'll turn you into mince-meat…" Leafa growled at him angrily.

"Got it…" Kazuto blinked at her in shock, and a little sad that Ulrich's backstabbing him like this.

They take some time to wander the market when they hear music being played, along with singing.

"Leafa, Aio, can either of you hear...music being played?" Kazuto asks.

"I do hear music; I think it's coming from the square." Leafa answered.

The trio walk towards the square where they find Karen with two friends enjoying the music being played by a female player wearing clothing drenched in the color gold. Ulrich glanced at the two people with Karen and notices a young feline player wearing casual clothing colored silver, with an older player, but not by much, wearing a blue robe with gold trims. The robe this player is wearing is hiding his appearance but he has the hood down so his blue hair and crimson eyes are visible.

"This music is incredible…" Ulrich seemed slightly absentminded.

"She's a member of the Puca race; they specialize in using music to boost their party's abilities." Leafa replied nonchalantly.

"I see" Ulrich answered, still absentminded, trying to enjoy the music.

The music player finishes the song and makes a bow towards the small audience that had gathered in the square to listen to her sing and play music. Ash walks toward the singer with her friends and seem to start a good conversation.

"Aio, I'm going to head to the park, come find me there later." Leafa called out, while dragging Kazuto along, much to his displeasure.

"Got it Leafa. I'll see you later Kirito." Ulrich replied.

Leafa and Kazuto depart, leaving Ulrich on his own. He sees that Karen is beckoning Ulrich to come over to where she is, so he does so, just to have something to do.

"You said your game name was Minatoya right?" An Undine player asks the Puca.

"That's right, I'm grateful you came to hear me play today." Minatoya says after making a bow.

"You played excellently Mina-onee-chan" The Cait Sith player: Okamoto chirped happily.

"M-Mina-onee-chan?!" Minatoya blinked in shock, while stuttering a little in fear.

"Okamoto, that was not appropriate! I'm very sorry for her behavior Minatoya-san" The Undine frowned at his companion, and he quickly bows in apology for Okamoto's action.

"I see..." Minatoya replied, still mildly freaked out. "It's rare to see Sylphs near here actually…" Minatoya trailed off, facing Ulrich.

"Actually Minatoya, this is a friend of mine. His game name is Ulkaios, but we call him Aio for short. Aio, I'd like to introduce my friends: Okamoto and Izanagi" Karen smiled as she introduced them.

"I'm pleased to meet you Ulkaios-san" Izanagi says with a bow.

"Hello Ulkaios-senpai" Okamoto seemed incredibly happy.

"Hello Izanagi, Okamoto, Minatoya" Ulrich nodding in turn at the trio.

Minatoya gasps, barely audible to anyone without a high hearing skill, when she hears Ulrich talk, she decides to think of a test to determine if a theory she has is true or not.

"Ulkaios, you don't need to answer if you don't understand, but do you know the names: Kingetsuga, Gingetsuga, and Kurogetsuga?" Minatoya asks Ulrich.

"Yeah, I know those names; they were my weapons in the last MMO I played. Why do you ask?" Ulrich asks curiously, he has no idea why this Puca asked such a random question.

"_This Sylph had those weapons in the last MMO he played. So...Ulkaios and Ulrich are the same person_" Minatoya thought to herself.

"Why did you ask such an unusual question Minatoya-san?" Izanagi frowned slightly at the randomness of the question.

"Oh...no reason, but Ulkaios, Ashikaga, I want to talk to you both...privately…" Minatoya trailed off, looking distinctly nervous.

Ulrich, Karen, and Minatoya walk to a secluded area of the town square and after looking around to make sure no one was within eavesdropping range.

"I'm pretty certain at this point. I'm glad to see you again Ulrich." Minatoya smiled at the Sylph.

"You...you know my real name?" Ulrich's eyes widened in shock.

"I was very certain when you answered the question about the Getsuga trio. Only one person had the weapon: Getsuga in Aincrad, and that was the clearer: Ulrich Stern. My game name back then was Elena."

Ulrich gasps in surprise while Karen is surprisingly quiet about it.

"I presume you had some inkling from the beginning, right Karen?" Sylvia asks.

"A tiny bit, but you just confirmed that you are Sylvia." Karen answered.

"So is there a reason why you're here Ulrich, Karen?" Sylvia asks the pair.

"We're traveling with a Spriggan and Sylph named Kirito and Leafa" Karen replied.

"Kirito? Is it the same Kazuto from Aincrad?"

"Yeah, we've been traveling together." Ulrich answered.

"I see. If you'll allow it, let me join you as well. You can call me Mina for short." Sylvia smiles at her two friends.

"Feel free Sylvia, I've been trying to gather knowledge on Katsuo and you all since I arrived in this world. Okamoto has been trying to help me in that regard." Karen explains.

"We should return to the crowd, before your friends get suspicious"

"Right, let's go." Ulrich says.

Ulrich, Karen, and Sylvia return to the stage where Okamoto and Izanagi are waiting.

"Ashikaga, I can imagine that Minatoya will be joining us?" Izanagi asks with remarkable perception.

"Yeah, she is. Are you going to accompany us too Izanagi? Okamoto?" Karen addressed her two colleagues.

"Of course, my friend here wants me to help you, so I'll help. Besides, I need to keep an eye on her" Izanagi replies.

"I want to help my friend, count me in Ashikaga-senpai" Okamoto chirped happily.

"Okay, we need to find our friends; they said they'd be in a nearby park…" Ulrich pointed out.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [20:00] August 1st, 2025

The group of five walk away from the town square to the park where Kazuto and Leafa are at. When they arrive, they find Leafa and Kazuto looking very distressed.

"Aio, Ash, I'm glad you guys came back so quickly, we need to leave fast!" Leafa exclaimed the second she spotted them.

"Leafa, what's wrong?" Karen, trying to calm her down.

"I heard from Recon, I found out what that Salamander battalion we heard about is going to do!"

The group quickly begins running toward the exit of the city. While the group is running Karen tries to get more information.

"Okay Leafa, while we're running, we need specifics on what's going on." Karen states.

"In a little over a half hour, beyond a place known as the Valley of the Butterflies, a secret meeting will begin between the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders. The Salamanders are going to attack that meeting." Leafa explains, looking worried.

"How would the Salamanders benefit from attacking the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders?" Ulrich asks.

"First of all, they would stop the alliance from forming. Second, If bad information from the Sylph resulted in the death of the Cait Sith leader, the Cait Sith will hold resentment toward the Sylph, it could even result in war between the 2 factions. Third, if a faction leader is slain, the winner gets roughly a third of the territory's money, and you can invade the capital of the nation for about a week and a half and make any tax you desire."

"This game allows that to happen? Talk about easily corruptible ideals..." Karen frowned, clearly annoyed.

"Kirito-kun, everyone, this is a Sylph problem. You don't need to help me. If we do go...we probably won't leave unscathed. We'd have to start over from Sylvain and Lugru. It's entirely possible that...if you all want to reach the top of the World Tree, you'd all be better off working with the Salamanders." Leafa muttered the last part reluctantly. "If they succeed in this operation, they'll have everything they need to make an attempt to clear the World Tree. Because you all are so diverse, I believe they would hire you as mercenaries, even you Ulkaios, if you explained you've always been a renegade with no loyalty to Sylvain." She shook her head sadly.

"Leafa, are you sure? You're really forcing us into a corner here" Ulrich looked crestfallen.

"No, I will not betray my friends; I am not going to attack you Leafa, not for my own benefit." Kazuto replied angrily.

While Kazuto, Ulrich, Leafa, and Karen were talking, Sylvia, Okamoto, and Izanagi are rushing to try getting as close to the field as possible.

"Guys, I really hate to kill the mood, but we need to leave now if we want to stop the Salamanders!" Karen says in a hurry, activating her sprint skill immediately.

"Right!" Kazuto called out.

Kazuto, Karen and Ulrich use their sprint skills to quickly exit the cave, with Leafa being dragged by Kirito. They run through many monsters trying to exit the cave, which begin chasing after them. They fly immediately after leaving, and find Izanagi outside.

"About time you all left, Minatoya-san and Okamoto are already rushing to reach the meeting point. We need to hurry!" Izanagi urges them on before quickly flying to chase after the Salamanders.

As they begin their flight, Leafa has something she needs to get off her chest

"Kirito, what you did took years off my life!" Leafa exclaimed after punching the black-clad swordsman.

After flying for about ten minutes after leaving the cave, they catch the sight of something remarkably beautiful that reaches into the clouds.

"What is that...?" Kazuto asks in surprise.

"That's the world tree: Yggdrasil." Leafa explains with absolute calmness in her voice.

"Sugoi...anyway...Leafa, where is the meeting going to be? I need to give the location to Okamoto, Mina, and Izanagi if they're going to help us with the Salamanders" Karen stared at the tree in awe at the start, and regaining her composure after shaking her head very quickly.

"Okay...It's to the northwest, near the mountain there" Leafa pointed out the mountain as she speaks.

"How much time do we have left? We can try asking Izanagi and the others to buy us some time if it comes down to it." Ulrich called over the wind.

"Out of the question Aio, I will not let my friends suffer that way!" Karen barked out angrily. "Let's see...we have twenty minutes until the Salamanders arrive...Major Yamakage is in the vanguard position of this Salamander battalion." Karen continues with concern, absolutely understandable, since Eugene and Yamakage are both very dangerous Salamanders.

"That's not a lot of time, we need to hurry!" Kazuto called out to his companions.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [20:30] August 1st, 2025

The group all activate a special burst to their flight to increase their speed so they can reach the meeting ground before the Salamanders arrive. Because of this, they appear right above the Salamander battalion, without being noticed.

"Leafa, I don't know if we'll get to the meeting before the Salamanders do" Karen says.

"Yeah, I know, even if we could warn them, there are two possible outcomes: We'll either barely get them out or...we'll perish in battle…" Leafa trailed off as she thought about having to restart at Sylvain again.

"Everyone, I can detect a force of 70 players directly ahead of us. It's most likely the Salamander battalion. I can detect 14 more players further on, most likely the diplomats. The Salamanders will make contact in one minute!" Yui says with mixed tones.

"We're not going to make it...Kirito-kun, everyone, thank you. I want you all to work with the Salamanders; you all haven't done anything to interfere with their plans. They'd still be willing to hire you all as mercenaries" Leafa says with a bitter undertone as she spoke of the Salamanders.

"Running away is not my thing Leafa." Kazuto tells the Sylph in a slightly angry tone.

The diplomats notice the incoming Salamander battalion and quickly stand up from their table.

"Why are the Salamanders here?!" A Sylph royal guard asks in disbelief and shock.

"Salamanders! Begin the-" The major: Yamakage tries to say before a sudden collision is seen in the ground in front of the Cait Sith and Sylph, sending up a lot of dust in the air, distracting Yamakage from commencing his order.

The collision surprises the Cait Sith leader: Alicia Rue, the Sylph Leader: Sakuya, and Yamakage, and when the smoke clears, a single Spriggan player is seen.

"_Kazuto, you are such a giant fool!_" Ulrich and Karen both shout in the minds.

"Everyone! Put away your weapons now!" Kazuto shouts to the Salamander attack battalion.

"Who is that?" A Salamander soldier asks.

"_That appearance seems...familiar...But who is he...?_" Yamakage's eyes narrowed at the black clad figure with a gigantic black sword… something very familiar was there from his clothes all the way to how he carried himself.

Leafa and the rest of Ulrich's friends touch down on the meeting ground and do their best to protect the diplomats, with Ulrich stepping forward to join up with Kazuto.

"I want to talk to your commanding officers!" Kazuto shouts.

The commanding officers of the Salamander battalion: General Eugene and Major Yamakage fly in front of the battalion and are confronted by Kazuto and Ulrich.

"My name is Kirito; I'm an ambassador for the Spriggan-Undine alliance, here to forge an alliance between the Cait Sith and the Sylph! If you dare attack this meeting, you will be met with the full force of all four races!" Kazuto shouted out to the two commanders.

Everyone on the meeting ground except Karen, Sylvia, and Ulrich are shocked by this, as they know the truth of Kazuto.

"_Kirito?! Kazuto Kirigaya...so you came to Alfheim Online to save us. I just wish...we met under different circumstances my friend...I have to cast away my shell of Masaru when I'm with the Salamanders, I cannot abandon my mission of helping them here...not even for you...hmm...not just anyone would stand with Kazuto...who are those six who arrived with him, I see an Imp, __two Sylphs, a Cait Sith, an Undine, and a Puca..._" Yamakage thinks to himself.

"An Undine-Spriggan Alliance? You claim to be their ambassador and not bring any guards." Eugene called back mockingly.

"Correction, I have guards, plenty of them too." Kazuto replies confidently.

Karen, Sylvia, Ulrich, and Izanagi get the signal and fly towards Kirito.

"See, my royal guard compromises of my friends among the Puca, Imp, Undine, and the Sylph. Putting that aside, I was sent here to negotiate an alliance with the Sylph and Cait Sith. If you dare disrupt this meeting, your Salamander faction will suffer for it. The Sylph, Cait Sith, Spriggan, and Undine will ally against the Salamanders, and don't forget small factions of the Puca and Imps who will want vengeance!"

"Do you honestly believe we trust you Kirito, you are no diplomat for the Spriggan, your equipment is shoddy, diplomats would not wear such beginner equipment." Yamakage says mockingly while keeping his cover.

"Hold your tongue Major, let's test this Spriggan's strength." General Eugene says while withdrawing his blade: the Demonic Sword Gram. "If you can survive in battle against me for 30 seconds, I will believe you're the Spriggan ambassador." Eugene says conceitedly.

"General, let me fight this Spriggan, I don't want you wasting your strength on this beginner." Yamakage tried to negotiate with him.

"That is not needed; I will be your opponent Yamakage! I am Kirito's second, if you want to fight him; you have to fight me first!" Ulrich barked out at Yamakage.

"_That voice...Ulrich?!...hehehe...I've been dying to face you at full strength for months now. Now I have my chance._" Yamakage smirked to himself.

"Very well, I will face your second Kirito." Yamakage says with pride.

"Let's make distance so our battles will not overlap." Eugene says wanting to make things a little fair for the combatants.

* * *

The combatants spread out to create two different battlefields with Eugene and Kazuto facing each other, and Ulrich and Yamakage fighting each other.

Yamakage uses a very strong sword & shield formation while Ulrich is using his katana: Liberator.

With the preparation Ulrich and Yamakage made for each other, they were twenty meters apart, which Yamakage quickly breaks when he charges at Ulrich with his sword & shield, drawn.

"Prepare to be defeated!" Yamakage shouts as he performs the charge.

Yamakage reaches Ulrich's location in under ten seconds with a stance that emits extra aggression and at the same time… uncertainty. Yamakage begins to slash at Ulrich but he quickly dodges it because of his enhanced speed and agility as a Sylph. Ulrich takes the opportunity to slash Yamakage's exposed back which succeeds, which leaves a bright red gash of pixels roughly three inches thick.

"Gah...you'll pay for that Sylph!" Yamakage spat out in anger, but in secret, he thinks to himself "_I'm impressed Ulrich, you seem to really have the determination to win this battle for Kazuto's sake. But how long can you keep that up since you don't have a pain absorber...hehe_"

Yamakage again tries to slash Ulrich but barely succeeds in leaving only a light slash on his arm because of Ulrich's extraordinary agility, which does not seem to faze him in the slightest.

"_I don't understand! Ulrich should've been in pain when I slashed his arm. Maybe the transfer from Sword Art Online to Alfheim Online installed a pain absorber. I do remember that Ulrich was made part of Cardinal's code when Kazuto tried to place Ulrich in his NerveGear._" Yamakage thought to himself.

Because of this agility, it's becoming increasingly difficult for Yamakage to keep up because Ulrich is wearing light clothing compared to Yamakage's heavy armor. With Yamakage becoming desperate, he decides to take a different approach to get some sort of advantage over Ulrich, he quickly switches his sword & shield for a 2-handed sword.

They clash with their blades once again and Yamakage whispers to Ulrich

"Ulrich, you wouldn't want to hurt one of your brothers… right?" Yamakage says in an innocent tone.

"What...What are you talking about? …Wait that voice...Katsuo?!" Ulrich exclaims in shock.

Yamakage's face develops an evil grin and uses this opportunity to inflict a series of blows against Ulrich in his moment of confusion. Because of the fact Ulrich was caught off guard, he is sent flying into a nearby mountainside because of the immense force of his massive sword. Yamakage turns his back to Ulrich presuming he won, which he takes advantage of. He uses a combination of his flight and his sprint skill to rapidly charge towards Yamakage and succeeds in slicing him in half much to his utter shock.

"You fought well, Katsuo, my friend, but I am the victor." Ulrich whispers to the Salamander.

"You fight with strong determination Ulrich. I am glad to have fought with you at full strength" Katsuo replied before becoming a Remain Light.

Ulrich grabs Katsuo's remain light and brings it to the meeting ground, where the leader of the Sylph faction: Sakuya, revive Eugene and Yamakage after they were slain, with them both possessing frowns on their faces over their defeats.

* * *

"You two are excellent fighters, the best I've ever seen in this game." Eugene nodding to the pair out of respect.

"I agree with General Eugene, I have never been defeated before now." Katsuo echoed with equal respect.

"I had no idea the Spriggans and Sylph had warriors as strong as you among their ranks. This truly is a big world." Eugene says proudly.

"Will you believe I'm an ambassador then?" Kazuto asks.

"I suppose I have no choice, considering the evidence. Neither I nor my leader wish to fight the Undine and Spriggans. We will withdraw, but I want to fight you again someday, Kirito." Eugene says proudly.

"I'd like that, very much" Kazuto says proudly.

"Well then, let us go" Eugene says.

"General Eugene, I have a request" Katsuo says.

"What is it Major Yamakage?" Eugene asks.

"I...I wish to accompany these people, I made a deal with the Sylph: Aio, that if I lost, I would accompany him and his friends that moment onward until I am dismissed. I do not want to have to break my word" Katsuo says, clearly lying, but because Eugene was away from his battle with Ulrich when it started, he doesn't know that. However, Ulrich is doing his best to hide the shock of that statement.

"Hm...very well, I will dismiss you from the Salamander nation, and I will make an exception in your case, so you will not be treated as a renegade" Eugene says, out of respect from Katsuo's service record in the Salamanders.

"Thank you General Eugene, I am grateful that you would do this for me. Glory to Lord Mortimer." Katsuo says with a tear in his eye, and with a salute in the last sentence.

"Glory to Lord Mortimer." Eugene exchanges a salute with Yamakage.

The Salamander battalion depart the area with no further trouble, much to everyone's surprise. There are a few glares directed Katsuo, as he's one of the most prominent leaders of the Salamander faction. Katsuo does feel the pressure of the stares being directed at him but does his best to keep a straight face.

* * *

"Major Yamakage, why did you want to withdraw from the Salamanders? You're one of the best leaders they have" Sakuya asks, obviously curious at the seemingly sudden decision of the Major.

"I withdrew because I lost the fight against Aio, so I have to accompany him because of his victory." Katsuo says.

"You're an awful liar Yamakage, tell us the real reason" Karen smirks at the look on the Salamander's face.

"Hmm...Aio, Puca, Imp, I want to talk to you three alone." Katsuo mutters to the three said players.

"Lady Sakuya, would you mind if we departed for a short time? We have a private discussion we need to have." Ulrich requests as politely as he can.

"Certainly, go on ahead, we have matters of our own to discuss. Leafa, I want you and your friends among the Cait Sith, Undine, and Spriggan to attend this conversation." Sakuya says.

"Understood" Ulrich and Leafa say, with the groups splitting in two for their different conversations.

Ulrich, Karen, Sylvia, and Katsuo fly to the sky around fifty meters away from the meeting grounds when the conversation between this group begins.

"Yamakage, why did you call us here?" Karen asks.

"I called you all to reveal the truth. My game name here is Yamakage, my previous game name was Masaru, and my real name is Katsuo Viperia. I would appreciate it if you would call me Yami as long as we use these names" Katsuo says.

"Katsuo, so you're Major Yamakage, one of the strongest leaders among the Salamanders." Karen says.

"Since I made my introductions, could you do the same?" Katsuo asks in a military style request.

"My game name is Ashikaga, real name, Karen Koizumi, call me Ash."

"My ingame name is Ulkaios; just call me Aio, like usual." Ulrich says.

"My name's Minatoya, nickname: Mina, my real name is Sylvia Miyagawa" Sylvia says.

"Karen, Sylvia, Ulrich, I am really glad I got to see you all again, I was using my resources in the Salamanders to try finding you all. But I never did imagine we'd meet as enemies on the battlefield. I was surprised when I heard Kazuto and Ulrich among the Sylph and Cait Sith. It's why I requested permission to leave the Salamanders without being branded a renegade, so I could accompany you like before." Katsuo explains.

"Well Katsuo, I am glad we found you and brought you back into the fold, we just need to find Kana and Asuna, then we'll work together to clear the World Tree." Karen smiled.

"No, we just need to find Asuna, I used my intelligence as best as I could to find Aincrad players, Kana actually set up shop in Aarun, she's playing as a Leprechaun character named Krisaga, I was going to go visit her when we Salamanders went to clear the World Tree."

"I see, now that we're reacquainted, let's return to Sakuya and the others." Ulrich says.

"Right" Sylvia says, with everyone else making various sounds of agreement.

Katsuo and the others return to Sakuya at the meeting ground, with good news: the Cait Sith and Sylph have allied to clear the World Tree, and will make preparations for it right away, however, Sakuya and Alicia are being rather troublesome in an unusual way.

* * *

"Hey Kirito, were you being honest about being an ambassador for the Spriggan-Undine alliance…?" Alicia openly flirts with the Spriggan, with several looks of indignation from the others.

"Oh, that was all a big lie; a bluff, a con, negotiation." Kazuto says with far too much pride, which makes nearly everyone that knows him for real sigh in disappointment.

"You're insane, I cannot believe you thought that up on the spur of the moment." Sakuya says, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Hey, if I have a bad hand, I'm going to raise the pot." Kazuto explained, in his normal 'far-too-much-pride' way.

"You know, for a liar, you're very strong. Are you a secret weapon for the Spriggan faction?" Alicia asks while grabbing onto Kirito's left side.

"Not really, I'm a wandering mercenary, same with my companions." Kazuto says calmly.

Alicia laughs and clings onto Kazuto's left arm, pressing the entire length of her body against his arm, creepiness slowly itching up is spine.

"You know; if you and your friends are wandering mercenaries, why not work with my Cait Sith faction? The benefits are: Three meals a day, plus snacks and rest whenever you wish." Alicia fluttered her eyes at him, blatantly flirting with him, being half-serious when speaking of the others.

This finally got a reaction of shock from Leafa, along with Karen and the rest of Kirito's friends. Meanwhile, Sakuya is quickly approaching Kirito's right side.

"Kirito right? How about you join me for a drink after this in Sylvein? I'd like to get to know you a little better." Sakuya pressed herself into his arm.

"Wait..." Leafa called out, beginning to return to her senses.

"You're not being fair Sakuya! You shouldn't try to seduce him!" Alicia says angrily towards Sakuya.

"Quit being hypocritical Alicia, you're the one clinging to him like a lost puppy." Sakuya retorts straight back at the Cait Sith leader.

"I am not a puppy! I'm a cat!" Alicia says very angrily now, after being compared to a dog.

Kazuto draws a breath to interrupt before just sighing, caught between two sides of an argument was definitely not fun. He felt a tug at his back.

"Stop it both of you! Kirito-kun is my-...my..." Leafa trails off from the expectant looks from two race leaders. Leafa is blushing heavily around now "He's my..." Leafa lets go of Kazuto out of embarrassment.

"Look...I appreciate your offers, I'm sorry, but I'm going to the World Tree with Aio and the others." Kazuto says, feeling a little bad for shooting down both Sakuya and Alicia.

"Sakuya, Alicia, this alliance was to defeat the grand quest of venturing up the World Tree right?" Leafa asks, regaining her composure.

"Eventually, yeah" Sakuya replied.

"When you do this, let us come with your armies, as soon as they can be assembled!" Leafa says.

Sakuya and Alicia exchange a quick glance, contemplating Leafa's decision

"I have no problem with that, we'd be thankful actually, having such a diverse group of strong warriors and strategists will be very helpful to our cause but why are you in a hurry Leafa?" Sakuya asks.

There's silence between everyone before Kazuto speaks out saying.

"I came to Alfheim Online to get to the top of that tree. I need to meet someone who may be there." Kirito says, clenching his fist as he remembered the picture of Asuna, trapped in that bird cage.

"Are you speaking of...The Fairy King Oberon?" Sakuya asks, frowning slightly.

"No… at least, I don't think so... It's someone I can't get to in the real world, but I need to see this person" Kazuto says sadly.

"The thing is, it'll take time to prepare our armies' equipment, it would take weeks ordinarily. Not one or two days." Alicia says, feeling bad for Kazuto.

"I know...Haste makes waste. For now, I merely wish to reach the tree's base; we can work out the rest then."

Kazuto then thinks of something and opens his inventory screen and spawns a bag holding something.

"Do you think you can use this to bolster your war funds?" Kazuto walks forward with the bag easily held in one hand.

He passes the bag to Alicia who quickly falls to the ground from its immense weight suddenly being forced on her. When she looks inside…

"Sakuya! Take a look at this!" Alicia says in shock.

"This has to be close to 100,000 Yuld!" Sakuya exclaims in shock before turning to Kirito with a serious expression on her face. "Kirito, are you sure about this? With this much money, you could build your very own castle on prime land."

"Sakuya, Alicia, how much Yuld do you need to mobilize your army with ancient class equipment?" Katsuo asks.

"If we want to deploy a large force we need...around 400,000 more Yuld, we'd divide it half and half for us all." Sakuya says.

"I see…" Katsuo says.

He them opens his inventory and spawns a bag of his own, presumably with even more Yuld for the war fund. He motions for the Sylph royal guard to approach him to grab the bag. Three of the members of the royal guard hurry towards him and grab the bag, but even they struggle somewhat to hold the bag, but somehow bring it to Sakuya. When she opens the bag, she is heavily shocked by the contents.

"How much Yuld is in this bag?!" Sakuya exclaims in shock.

"There's 500,000 Yuld there, use it to prepare your army to take on the World Tree" Katsuo replied.

"Woah! I never knew there were Salamanders this friendly and most of all, generous. Since you left them, how would you feel about transferring to my faction?" Alicia asks in her flirtatious tone and lecherous expression on her face once again.

"As much as I would love being around a race of cat people, I am still loyal to the Salamanders, I will never betray them to join the Cait Sith" Katsuo says seriously, but humorously at the start.

"If that's the case, why did you not use this money to bolster the Salamander army?" Sakuya asks out of curiousity.

* * *

Author Notes:

(Cliffhangers for the win, you'll have to wait until the next chapter for the rest of this.)


	4. Chapter 3: Gathering Allies

Ulrich has now found all of his friends except for Amaterasu and Asuna, luckily, they are both in the same general area: Aarun and the World Tree. However, an old 'friend' has returned and is causing utter devastation across this world of Alfheim. Will Ulrich and his friends, both new and old, be able to rescue Asuna, free the other trapped SAO players and protect the players from this new threat?

Rated: AU Fiction T

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words that I write and the characters that I create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO universe; credits also to the creators and contributors to the Code Lyoko series and related works._

Author Notes: If you want to understand this story fully, I would highly recommend reading my previous work: Code Aincrad.

Once again, I need to give credit to Latiosus for Beta reading this chapter.

* * *

"I didn't bolster the Salamander army because...well...I had little desire to." Katsuo states frankly, with a little laugh.

"You'd better keep that quiet from the Salamanders Yamakage, they really will make you a renegade if they find out." Sakuya laughs with him.

"I suppose so; I pray everyone here will keep it secret." Katsuo addresses everyone, with mock seriousness.

"You'll need to make it worth it Yami-nii-chan." Okamoto sneers.

"Yami-nii-chan?!" Katsuo exclaims in surprise.

"Okamoto! I thought I told you already that kind of behaviour was inappropriate!" Izanagi scolds.

Everyone that was gathered here, save Izanagi and Yamakage, was doubled over with laughter at Okamoto's comment.

"Yamakage, I am so sorry about Okamoto, she tends to be rather inappropriate a lot..." Izanagi says sadly.

"I see..." Katsuo mutters in disbelief.

"Believe it or not Yami, she did that to me earlier." Sylvia smiles, trying to comfort Katsuo.

"My goodness! Is that the time?! We need to get going!" Leafa exclaims.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [20:50] August 2nd, 2025

"Right, we're going to quickly return to our nations and log out." Sakuya says, Alicia and their royal guards agreeing, quickly flying away from the area to return to their nations.

"Guys, let's head to a place where monsters can't target us easily...do you have any recommendations?" Katsuo asks, directing the comment more at Leafa than the others.

"There's a mountain pass nearby, totally uninhabited by players and monsters. We'll stay there until tomorrow." Leafa replies.

The group begins their flight to depart the meeting grounds to the mountain pass described by Leafa and arrive after 15 minutes of flying. They touch down immediately after they arrive when Izanagi and Okamoto log out right away, so they could go to sleep for the next day.

"Aio, everyone, we're logging out, I'll see you tomorrow" Leafa says, with Kirito nodding in agreement.

"Sure, see you tomorrow, Leafa, Kirito." Karen says.

Kirito and Leafa log out so they can sleep for the night, leaving Ulrich, Karen, Sylvia, and Katsuo alone in the mountain pass.

"I wonder if they know we can't log out..." Katsuo mutters under his breath rather pessimistically.

"Oh yeah...today was so eventful that I forgot about that restriction..." Karen says in a sad tone, remembering that they can't log out.

"Now that we're alone...Karen, Sylvia, Katsuo; I was hoping to ask you all a question…" Ulrich asks, in a rather serious tone.

"What's the question Ulrich?" Katsuo asks, sensing the seriousness in Ulrich's voice.

"I've been sort of running in the dark ever since I came to this world this morning. Could you help me fill in some gaps?" Ulrich pleads.

"What exactly do you mean?" Sylvia asks in confusion.

"Are you trying to ask us to fill in the two month long gap between your disappearance in Aincrad and your reappearance today?" Karen guesses, rather confident.

"Yeah, I'm missing two months' worth of time, what happened during those two months?" Ulrich's eyes flicked between the faces of his friends.

"Well...where do I start?" Katsuo asks himself relatively unsure, since he was diving into unfamiliar territory.

"Let me start Katsuo...okay...what's the last thing you remember before arriving here Ulrich? That'll help me out." Karen asks politely.

"I remember...being in the secret dungeon on floor 1 of Aincrad, but after the teleport...nothing, that is, until this morning" Ulrich says, a little unsure of himself.

"So that's what you remember last. Okay, what happened then didn't end in a teleport Ulrich. If Kazuto was right about it, Cardinal refused to allow you to be created as an item and be stored in Kazuto's NerveGear, so...Cardinal absorbed you into its code" Karen says.

"Wait...if Cardinal did absorbed me… how am I in Alfheim? I would still be in Aincrad if I was in its code."

"I can see how you'd think that, but Cardinal isn't just a program, it's a network of sorts." Karen explains.

"A network...? So there's more than one of me now?" Ulrich starts feeling depressed as he registers that he had lost his individuality.

"Um...not exactly, Kazuto thoroughly scanned your code, and you only seem to activate when a specific pre-requisite is fulfilled. But we haven't been able figure out what exactly that is to be honest." Katsuo interjects.

"We only have theories...but I want to test one I have. You said you materialized this morning. Do you know when Kazuto started playing?" Karen asks.

"Leafa told me he started playing last night" Ulrich says.

"Hmm...he started playing last night and you appeared the morning after..." Karen says slowly, then begins thinking to herself.

"What are you thinking Karen?" Sylvia asks.

"Hmm...I'm not certain here, but Ulrich's pre-requisite could be that we all need to exist in the same game world." Karen says.

"Are you certain Karen? Because that seems too convenient, and why would that happen only when we're together?" Katsuo asks.

"...I'm not particularly sure, but with the evidence we have, this scenario seems the most likely. You all know Ulrich would've come to help us when we were trapped here. But he never appeared until today. And think about it Katsuo, Ulrich has been with us for three years, we've been through thick and thin, we survived the odds and became very good friends during our time in Aincrad. Ulrich could've sub-consciously created that pre-requisite so that we'd need to be together if he was to arrive in that world."

"That does makes sense Karen, and I did notice that you were much stronger Ulrich, we've duelled before in Aincrad, but the maneuvers you did here were very remarkable, I was shocked I got my ass kicked so easily here when you had to really work for it in Aincrad," Katsuo explains, before growling out "but you brought up the most crucial fact here Karen: There are a little over three hundred players still trapped in virtual reality. We need to find whoever did this and break his or her spine piece by piece..."

"Katsuo, you seem far more irritable than ever before." Sylvia looked at the salamander warily.

"Huh? …Sorry, it's this natural anger of the Salamanders, it takes over sometimes..." Katsuo flicked an apologetic smile at Sylvia.

"I guess with us still trapped here in virtual reality...the race we play as sometimes become dominant over our personality..." Karen looks slightly concerned.

"Ulrich, I want to ask you a question, do you hold any sort of anger toward Katsuo? I want to figure out if this applies to you, because the Sylph and Salamanders have been enemies ever since this game started." Sylvia looked at Ulrich who quickly shook his head.

"No, the one time I held anger towards him was when he was still Yamakage, the major who tried disrupting the alliance."

"I can understand that Ulrich, I was working with the Salamanders to try destroying the alliance before it started then. But I am not working with them now. I'm working with my friends so we can escape this world and return to reality." Katsuo says.

"Anyway, going back to Cardinal and my code...if you're right, I can only appear when everyone's together in the same world?" Ulrich asks one more time just to ensure he had all the details correct.

"I can't be certain, but with the evidence we have, I think I can say yes." Karen states, though with a little uncertainty.

"I see anyway...How are we going to pass the long night time actually?" Ulrich says with well-founded concern.

"We sleep here for the night; we don't have much choice in the matter to be honest. We'll have a shift system, Two of us will sleep, while the other two guard us, and we'll change it after a few hours." Karen says.

"Do we have any sort of camping equipment? Even if this is a virtual environment, I don't want to sleep on rocks if I have the option." Sylvia frowns slightly, not liking the idea of sleeping on hard rocks.

"I thought ahead Sylvia, I bought six camping units, they're constantly reusable thankfully, we can set up four units, pick our tents and half of us will sleep with our guards keeping watch." Karen hid a smile at the relieved expression on Sylvia's face.

"How are the pairings going to go? Me and Ulrich?" Katsuo asks, trying to get things planned out.

"Not exactly Katsuo, you and Ulrich are our best, we can't have you both be in the same shift, we'd be weaker when Karen and I took over." Sylvia points out.

"Katsuo, you and Sylvia will pair up, I'll pair up with Ulrich on this one" Karen says.

"Why do you want to pair up with Ulrich, Karen?" Katsuo asks.

"Well, I do remember that Ulrich works well with my strategies, so if players do decide to attack us, we'll make a good pair." Karen says. "_That and...I don't want to lose to Sylvia again..._" Karen whispers to herself.

"That makes sense, Ulrich did synchronize best with your strategies compared to the rest of us." Katsuo concedes before asking, "Alright then, what are the team names? And who is going to get the first shift?"

"I'll name my group Delta, Katsuo's group is India. Delta will get the first shift; go enjoy your rest Katsuo, Sylvia."

"Sure. Be careful Karen, Ulrich." Katsuo nods to the pair before going to his tent to sleep until his shift.

Katsuo and Sylvia go to their tents so they can rest for their upcoming shift. Katsuo falls asleep almost immediately, with Sylvia falling asleep ten minutes later.

"Okay, let's keep watch over this area." Karen says optimistically, and quietly to try not waking Katsuo and Sylvia.

* * *

Ulrich examines the pass they're staying in to try finding a defendable position with a perfect view of both sides. After a few minutes of searching, Ulrich finds a small alcove built into the mountain pass which would be perfect for an archer or two to pick off enemies without being seen. He approaches Karen to inform of it;

"Karen, there's a small alcove there, let's go up there so we can watch over the others in a better location." Ulrich whispers to Karen.

"Sure." Karen shrugs.

They walk towards the alcove and realize that there's no visible way up to the alcove, so Ulrich and Karen will need to find a different way to get to the alcove, since there's no sort of walkway or ladder.

"Hey Karen, how much confidence can you put in your strength stat?" Ulrich asks.

"Compared to you, my strength is very weak, but my strength is relatively decent. Why?" Karen asks.

"I'd appreciate it if you could give me a small push up there." Ulrich says.

"Hmm...I'm not entirely sure if I can pull it off, but I can certainly try my best..." Karen eyes the alcove, with doubt on her mind, unsure of her abilities.

However, Karen does her best to give Ulrich a boost up to the alcove, but is having difficulty because of her lower strength attribute.

"Ugh...I don't think I can do this Ulrich..." Karen says in simulated pain.

"Okay...let's switch then, I'll give you a push up to the alcove and you can lift me up when I get you there." Unrich compromises.

"Are...are you sure?" Karen looks at the Sylph in disbelief.

"Yeah, we don't have much choice." Ulrich states.

Ulrich gets down on his knees and cups his hands together to prepare to give Karen a lift to the alcove. Karen reluctantly steps on Ulrich's hands and she is lifted to the alcove at a slow pace. When Karen gets to the alcove's height, she jumps above the alcove and lands on it shortly afterward. She then crouches down and stretches her hand to get Ulrich up to the alcove. They sit back to back to create a good viewing point. They pass the time with various conversations, primarily about Ulrich's reappearance in their lives after the two months after they left Aincrad.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [3:30] August 3rd, 2025

"Ulrich, I think it's high time we wake up Katsuo and Sylvia so they can take over our shift." Karen says.

"Right, I'll go wake them up, and then tell them how to get up here." Ulrich says while jumping down to the base.

Ulrich calmly walks toward Katsuo's tent and when he gets there, however, Karen had some thoughts in her mind during his trek to Katsuo's tent.

"_I wish our shift didn't end so quickly...I was enjoying the chat to be honest...I wish I could've kept it up..._" Karen thinks.

"Hey, Katsuo, time to wake up." Ulrich called out to the swordsman.

"mmm?" Katsuo blinks blearily at Ulrich.

"It's time to wake up Katsuo, it's your shift." Ulrich called again.

"oh...right..." Katsuo says while equipping his dark red and black colored full plate armor which showed his status as a major.

Katsuo was awake and alert within a minute, beginning a walk around the campsite.

"Katsuo, that's not needed, we found a good alcove hidden that gives a good vantage point." Ulrich says.

Ulrich points to the west and Katsuo notices Karen sitting there.

"Understood, I guess Sylvia and I will set up there, it does seem like a good point to keep watch." Katsuo says while walking toward the alcove, and flies up to reach it.

"_Why did I not think of that?!_" Both Ulrich and Karen resist the urge to face-palm.

Karen uses her wings to fly down to the base and walks toward her tent to sleep for the night with her head down in utter embarrassment over what just happened. Ulrich then walks toward Sylvia's tent to inform her of her upcoming shift.

"Sylvia, wake up, your shift just started." Ulrich says.

"I'm awake already, I heard you walking around, and I already prepped my gear." Sylvia says angrily as she leaves her tent.

"Then I assume you know where to set up for your shift?" Ulrich asks in a mildly confused tone, he doesn't know why Sylvia's so pissed off.

"Yeah, I heard that when you were talking with Katsuo." Sylvia says in the same tone.

Sylvia then departs to the alcove and flies above it and set up the back to back view with Katsuo that Karen and Ulrich used to secure both entrances.

"Why is she so angry...? Is she merely annoyed that she was woken up so roughly, or is it what was mentioned earlier, with the race's default personality sometimes overwriting our personalities? Well...I'll worry about it later" Ulrich says quietly, with regret in his voice. "_I...I have a good idea of what's bugging her but...I can't worry about it right now...I have a bigger problem in front of me..._" Ulrich hears a voice say from within his soul but ultimately, he ignores it for now.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [7:30] August 3rd, 2025

Katsuo and Sylvia finish their shift and go to wake up Karen and Ulrich, to discuss their plans, because it could bring up too much suspicion for them to be in the same place all night to Leafa, Okamoto, and Izanagi.

"Karen, you have to agree that it'll be troublesome if we stay here, we need to find a settlement somewhere with an inn, if Leafa and the others ask why we're there, we can say we went there to log out before our we went to sleep." Katsuo says logically.

"I agree, let's find a neutral territory settlement and head to the inn...not only for that reason but for decent sleep..." Sylvia mutters to herself angrily.

"You know that no matter what, they will question on how we mysteriously went from that mountain pass to a nearby neutral territory settlement." Karen points out.

"We can just say we left in the early morning, to avoid danger, just in case." Ulrich replied.

"I suppose that's the only reason that works for now." Karen says quietly.

"There's something else we need to contemplate also..." Katsuo says quietly.

"What is it Katsuo? Is it important, because we should get moving." Karen says seriously.

"I'll talk about it along the way."

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [8:00] August 3rd, 2025

Ulrich, Karen, Katsuo, and Sylvia summon their wings and begin their flight east to find a neutral settlement to stay in for a time. They fly through the clear blue skies of the world of Alfheim and find a rather large settlement thirty minutes to the southeast of their current position.

"Okay Katsuo, what did you want to talk about?" Karen asks.

"I'm worried that the Cait Sith and Sylph armies will not be sufficient for clearing the World Tree. I led a large Salamander force supplemented with Undine mercenaries highly skilled in healing magic to that tree a while back...we got utterly annihilated within minutes after we entered that place, the guardians picked us off one by one," Katsuo explains frowning as he remembered the guardians. "I was the sole survivor...and that was because I fled like a chicken..." Katsuo mutters rather awkwardly.

"So...what would you recommend Katsuo?" Sylvia asks.

"We'll need assistance from more nations, there's a very strong possibility the Cait Sith and Sylph will not stand a chance. I'm very close to General Eugene and his entire battalion, I could try asking him to aid us in our fight, but we'll need more than that I'm afraid. The Undines and Spriggans will be very helpful, they have very powerful healing and illusion magic respectively, and we can use that to our advantage."

"Katsuo, that is a VERY tall order, you know that right?" Karen clarifies.

"We may not have a choice. We'll need to go to Gadan, Kirimachi, and Yamiako; the Salamander's, Undine's, and Spriggan's capitals. I can try contacting General Eugene and ask him to meet with us, as diplomats, we'll have to fly to the Undine and Spriggans however."

"Actually, I just remembered this, but we've actually met the leader of the Undines." Karen mutters to herself, resisting the urge to smack her head once again for being dumb.

"Really?" Sylvia's head snapped around as she stared at Karen.

"Yeah, I can't believe I forgot, but Izanagi is the leader of the Undine, and he keeps close relations with the Spriggan leader. I'm sure that if we ask, he'd be willing to provide us with some of his best healers and ask the Spriggans for their best. So we'd just need to speak with General Eugene and get his military battalion."

"Katsuo, are you sure about this? Will General Eugene really ally with us just because you ask?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm not certain, but if I'm given no other option, I can challenge Eugene, and make a condition that if I win, he must work with us." Katsuo says relatively unsure of himself; knowing Eugene's strength firsthand.

"What if he doesn't keep his word?" Sylvia asks in a worried tone.

"That won't be a problem, the general always keeps his word, no matter what the situation is." Katsuo explains, his thoughts flickering to a certain 'Black Swordsman'.

"Okay, I'll trust you on this Katsuo," Karen sighs, "not that I have much choice." She mutters.

They continue their flight and land at a small settlement on the far edge of the Ancient Forest and spot the Dragon Valley roughly two hours to the east of their current location. They all head to the inn of the town to get some good rest for their upcoming event.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [13:00] August 3rd 2025

Ulrich and his friends enjoy a very good rest with the few hours they've had to do so, as they woke up at 12:00. Katsuo contacted General Eugene as soon as he woke up requesting an immediate meeting outside a sacred Salamander meeting ground called Fellyre Shire. The group departs the town and flies to the Fellyre Shire which takes around a half hour.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [13:30] August 3rd 2025

They arrive at the abandoned Fellyre Shire and are quickly surrounded by a large number of Salamander military soldiers led by General Eugene. The military units possess 2 different crests: one of which belongs to General Eugene, and the other is the crest of the Salamander Major: Yamakage.

"General, why would you bring such a large military force?" Katsuo asks in minor anger, feeling double-crossed.

"I brought in our two units in case you manage to succeed against me. I have a very good feeling you're going to have a condition if you win against me Yamakage." Eugene says wisely.

"You're right General Eugene, I want to challenge you and I have a request you must obey if I win."

"How bold of you Yamakage, however, if I win, you must obey a request I have."

"Let's state our conditions before we begin our battle, so we know what to expect after this battle."

"Excellent, if I win, you must leave your companions and rejoin the Salamanders, morale has quickly begun dropping since you departed, I intend to have you return to stabilize things. I'll reinstate you as a Major if that happens." Eugene compromises at the end.

"I see, if I win Eugene. I want you, and our military units to help the Sylph and Cait Sith clear Yggdrasil." Katsuo calls out.

"You'd want to pair up the Salamanders and Sylph? That's a very disastrous combination Yamakage, particularly because you used to be a rather infamous Sylph hunter yourself." Eugene replies.

"I hardly see the distinction anymore after traveling with Aio, we, Salamanders don't need to be enemies with the Sylph. Working together with them will prove that." Katsuo says proudly, but a little nervously about having the full extent of his military service being revealed so casually...

"Let's discuss this after our battle ends, shall we?" Eugene says with a tone ready for battle, drawing his Demonic Sword Gram.

"Certainly, I presume this will be a one on one battle?" Katsuo says eagerly, drawing his sword and shield set: Final Heaven.

"Of course, this will be a test of skill. We'll fight in the air to keep things clean between everyone gathered." Eugene says before taking off into the sky.

Katsuo takes off into the sky as well and takes up a stance to counter the DSG's ability of Ethereal Shift.

"_I know of the Ethereal Shift ability, if I try to defend with only my shield, he'll phase through it and strike me down. I imagine Eugene has developed a strategy to counter the dual blades advantage but maybe not...If I want to beat Eugene, I need to use Dual Blades...I just wish I knew how to use that talent properly..._" Katsuo says to himself then withdraws Final Heaven and takes out his two swords: Onyx Shark and Titanium Heart.

"So you plan to use dual blades like the Spriggan Kirito? I'd like to see what talent you have with that combat style." Eugene smirks at the Major.

"I'm very good at being adaptable, I'm just as good as Kirito is, if not better." Katsuo says confidently.

"_...I'm pushing myself into a corner here...I only used dual blades two other times, I'm no master like Kazuto or Ulrich...thankfully, I've seen Kazuto use dual blades back in Aincrad many times, I think I can pull it off_" Katsuo thinks to himself.

General Eugene then charges towards Katsuo with remarkable speed, to try preventing the advantage that Kirito had over him last time in the Valley of Butterflies. He is rushing to prevent Yamakage from getting the chance to get to use his dual blades and use it to prevent the Ethereal Shift from occurring. Katsuo however decides to take up the strategy Ulrich used against him in the Valley of Butterflies: using superior speed. Katsuo quickly dodges the attack by flying above Eugene and begins his assault against him, by trying his best to use a modified style of Kazuto's signature ability with dual blades: Starburst Stream, that he named Fusion Lance. This ability is not system administrated, so Katsuo is forced to use Fusion Lance with his skill and adaptability solo.

"I will not let you win General! Fusion Lance!" Katsuo shouts, and after inflicting the first hit, Eugene is not able to move in any way.

"What's happening?! I can't move!" Eugene says in surprise.

Katsuo doesn't answer, but he applied a paralysis effect to Onyx Shark and continues using the skill and succeeds in using seven hits and at the end, he adds all the strength he has into the eighth hit. The combo sends Eugene crashing down to the ground that whips up a big sandstorm in the area. When the sandstorm clears, Eugene's remain light is seen.

"Looks like I'm the winner." Katsuo says proudly, sheathing his weapons.

Karen runs toward his remain light and casts the revival spell that Sakuya taught her via PM the day before, and barely manages to revive him before the time ran out. When Eugene is revived, he wears a very disappointed face; he just lost two battles since yesterday.

"General Eugene, will you keep your word?" Katsuo asks in a serious, yet...nervous tone.

Eugene stands up ashamed of his repeated defeats but says reluctantly

"Yes, I am a man of my word; the Salamander Alpha Battalion will assist you in clearing Yggdrasil alongside the Sylphs and Cait Siths." Eugene pulls a face at the idea of helping the Sylpha, having no choice but to work with the very people he once attacked.

"Thank you General, here, take the Yuld I saved up and boost Alpha Battalion's combat power" Katsuo says while spawning a bag with Yuld.

Eugene grabs the bag and upon inspection, it contains a large amount of Yuld equalling roughly 500,000.

"Yamakage, how did you get this much Yuld? I never knew your job as Major paid this much" Eugene asks in shock.

"The job didn't pay as much as I expected, I got this much Yuld from hunting and a source I don't really want to talk about" Katsuo says, not wanting to reveal his SAO connection.

"Fair enough, I'll go outfit the Alpha Battalion with ancient class weaponry and depart to Aarun. We'll set out tonight"

"I'll look forward to your assistance General" Katsuo says with a bow.

Eugene then takes a glance towards Karen.

"You appear to be a very intelligent person; I hope you will be among the people overseeing the plan to clear Yggdrasil." Eugene nods with respect.

"I will be working as strategist, combat is not my speciality, my speciality is developing strategies. In the last fighting MMO I was in, I was the lead strategist." Karen smiles proudly.

"I see." Eugene says quietly.

Eugene and Salamander Battalion Alpha depart Fellyre Shire, with Ulrich, Sylvia, Karen, and Katsuo gathering to discuss the victory Katsuo earned for the group.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [14:00] August 3rd 2025

"Congrats Katsuo, you haven't lost your edge, that's good to know." Karen says while laughing a little.

"Leave me alone Karen..." Katsuo growled angrily, misunderstanding her intention, since she's laughing.

"What's the problem Katsuo?" Sylvia asks curiously.

"...It seriously seemed like she was mocking me..." Katsuo says quietly.

"That wasn't my intention; I was trying to encourage you in my own special way." Karen apologised, stifling her laughter, although most of her company could hear it, courtesy of a high hearing skill level. "Anyway, you seem rather close to the General, would you mind sharing?" She says in a semi-pushy tone, not wanting to force him to answer.

"Well...it happened two months ago..." Katsuo says quietly.

* * *

Katsuo's Flashback:

Alfheim Standard Time: [11:00] June 8th 2025

"_I've been in this unknown world for five days; I have no idea where Karen, Sylvia, Kana, and the others are, if they're even in this world at all. I've been wandering aimlessly through this apparently massive desert since I arrived, I'm just thankful I had a small supply of usable food from my time in Aincrad. However, despite that, none of my damn weapons can be used in this world, so I've had to resort to hand to hand combat to fight any monsters that decide to attack me. However...now I'm out of food and my strength is fading by the hour, if I don't find a settlement or another player soon, I'm not going to make it..._" I say weakly from five days of walking through the desert. I wander through the desert trying to find some sort of settlement or something for a proper bed and food. "_Okay...I can't go on like this...I'm losing all of my strength from this heat, starvation, and the fact I've fought off forty eight monsters over the last five days with my hands only...I..._" I think to myself very weakly, collapsing to my knees outright from starvation and the fact the heat from this desert is real to me. Before I lose consciousness, I hear a voice call out to me

"Get up; I refuse to let a Salamander die in such a pathetic manner." I hear the voice demand with the authority only a commander could muster.

I however am unable to respond because of the fact I passed out at this point.

Alfheim Standard Time: [15:00] June 8th 2025

I wake up in an inn room with someone by my bedside with red scruffy hair and is wearing red armor with gold trims.

"So you finally woke up, you've been out for four hours." The man says calmly.

"Wh...Who are you?" I ask nervously.

"My name is Eugene; I'm a General of the Salamander faction. I rescued you from the desert." Eugene says nonchalantly.

"Oh...thank you...I guess. I suppose I owe you my life." I nod to the general.

"You can repay that debt by joining the Salamander army. What is your name youngling?" Eugene says to me seriously.

"_I...I don't think I should give my SAO profile name while I'm here...I need to improvise...I know!_" I say to myself a little nervously. "My name here is Yamakage, I'm glad you saved my life General Eugene." I say with a bow, as I got up.

"Well Yamakage, if you're feeling better, let's depart. We have training to do." Eugene says calmly, but it makes me panic slightly.

"General...I don't have any weapons or armor; I'll be at a giant disadvantage." I say quietly, since I inspected my inventory the first day I got into this world.

"Very well, I'll bring you to the armory inside our barracks; I'll get you a set of armor, a sword and a shield. The equipment I'll give you will match your rank: Corporal."

"I...Th-Thank you so much General. I will not let you down, not after you've gone to so much trouble to help me"

"Hmm, before we do this, I brought some food; go eat before you begin training." General Eugene says calmly.

"R-Right..." I say with a small embarrassed laugh.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [15:00] August 1st 2025

"_It's been around a month since I arrived in Alfheim Online. Because of the fact General Eugene saved my life out in the desert, I owed my life to him and I demonstrated my fierce loyalty to the entire nation by becoming the perfect soldier. I quickly advanced through the ranks and became a major three days ago because of my excellent combat skills and all of the strategies that Karen taught me of back in Sword Art Online, with nearly every soldier in the Salamander faction developing great respect for me, though a Salamander corporal named Horizon is spiteful of me because of my rapid promotions, among others. I was assigned to the Salamander Alpha Battalion when I made it to the rank of First Sergeant, with me becoming a sub-leader of the Alpha Battalion upon reaching Lieutenant, which is when I was first assigned to lead my unit in the Alpha Battalion to try clearing the Grand Quest with Undine healer mercenaries assisting us. A good amount of my service record was built upon me fighting the Sylph nation, with me being called one of the most infamous Sylph slayers of all the Salamanders, even more so than Kagemune. Today, General Eugene, myself, and the entire Alpha Battalion is being sent to target a secret Sylph & Cait Sith alliance meeting and prevent it from being formed. If it wasn't for our mole: Sigurd, we never would've learned of this in time to stop it, and the Sylph and Cait Sith would have what they'd need to clear Yggdrasil. Our scouts have recently uncovered that a Spriggan, two Sylphs, and an Imp have been making unusual movements around the Sylph nation...I'm going to send a team after those four, G-Takusu ought to be sufficient. I do not anticipate G-Takusu having what it takes to actually defeat those four at all, but I need him to stall that team until we attack the meeting ground. Failure is not an option, even though our entire battalion nearly numbers a hundred, I never like taking risks. If G-Takusu fails to buy us enough time, or someone from his unit squeals, it'll make our upcoming attack that much more difficult..._"

(End Flashback: Return to general POV)

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [14:30] August 3rd, 2025

"...So, the reason why you're so loyal to General Eugene is because he saved your life?" Karen asks curiously.

"Yeah, anyway, do any of you feel like we're being watched?" Katsuo says.

"Yeah, it feels like it's coming from the west." Ulrich says.

Ulrich and Katsuo quickly begin their flight and notice four players in the distance. Karen and Sylvia fly to their current location and notice the four players hiding behind a sand dune. Karen throws her spear toward the sand dune, which quickly forces the players to fly up to dodge the spear. Katsuo, Ulrich, and Sylvia then quickly draw their blades and charges at the players, but when they get close, they find Kazuto and the others. Karen flies over to where she threw her spear and picked it up, who flies over to Kazuto and the others.

"Ash, that was a little excessive!" Leafa says angrily.

"That's what you get for following us! You should be glad I intentionally missed." Karen growls angrily.

"You intentionally missed hitting us when you threw that spear?" Izanagi asks in surprise.

"Yeah, I did that to surprise you and get you to fly so Ka-Yami, Aio, and Mina would finish you off." Karen says proudly, but with a moment of nervousness when addressing her friends.

"That does seem like something you'd do Ash." Kazuto admits, knowing her reputation back in Aincrad.

"Why were you all following us? You should've just came out and told us you were coming. That would've prevented this." Ulrich pointed out angrily.

"I noticed that you all were acting suspicious last night, so I logged in early right when you left, so I created a tracer to follow you while I waited for the others. Izanagi, Leafa, and Kirito all logged in not long afterward, and I told them you all left, so we followed you discreetly." Okamoto tells them in a serious tone, which surprises everyone else.

"You're pretty crafty Okamoto; you're surprisingly intelligent despite your tendencies." Karen says.

"Thank you; I'm not always childish, when I need or want to be, I can be very serious. Considering this situation, I'm going to need to be like this. I'm pretty good with developing strategies on the fly too."

"You're good with developing strategies? Can I see what you developed? My mother was a professional military strategist, and I have a lot of talent in the field as well."

"Yeah, I have a book of the strategies I made" Okamoto says while opening her inventory and spawning the said book.

Okamoto tosses the book to Karen who then opens and reads it thoroughly, and gasps in shock a few times during the inspection.

"Ash, is something wrong?" Katsuo asks.

"Yami...yeah...some of these strategies are amazing, I'm surprised I never thought of some of these, on paper, these strategies seem very easy to apply in the field and are very effective." Karen flipped rapidly through the pages.

"You said your mother was an actual military strategist? You're so lucky Ash. Right Izanagi?" Okamoto says motioning to Izanagi.

"Izanagi, you and Okamoto know each other in real life?" Karen began to notice how the pair seemed to have an understanding.

"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, yeah, we're related in real life. Since I'm revealing secrets, I'm also the leader of the Undine." Izanagi says quietly.

"Izanagi...that's a bit of an open secret." Karen says with a sigh.

"Wha...Ash, you told them?"

"Yeah, it came out while on our way over here, anyway, I've been meaning to ask, would you be willing to provide us with some of your best healers Izanagi?" Karen asks.

"Hmm… if you can agree to a little condition of mine, I'll send you the best healers I have." Izanagi says.

"What's the condition?" Katsuo asks, wariness beginning to creep into his voice.

There's a moment of silence before Leafa suddenly called out to the others.

"Oh yeah! I need to make lunch for me and my brother!" Leafa exclaims, remembering the time before logging out instantaneously, since the Fellyre Shire is a safe zone like the cities.

"Okay...the condition is: I barely know any of you, even you Ash. If you want my assistance, I need better understanding of you all, real life identities included. I will reveal mine and Okamoto's as a breather. My real name is Kazuma Takara, Okamoto's name is Airi Takara. What are yours?" Kazuma says.

"Kazuma?! Airi?! I can hardly believe it! It's been years since I've seen you two, it's me Karen" Karen says in a freaked out, yet happy tone, learning the identities of Izanagi and Okamoto. Karen didn't recognize either of them since they sound so different from the last time she saw them.

"Karen?! Wait...weren't you trapped in Sword Art Online?!" Kazuma asks in shock, apparently not knowing that Aincrad ended, with three hundred people are still trapped in virtual reality.

"Nee-chan, it's been so long since I last saw you" Airi says happily, running to embrace the 'sister' she hasn't seen 'alive' in three years.

"It's a long story...but that game ended about two months ago, but around three hundred players from SAO are trapped here." Karen shakes her head sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that Karen, anyway, who are your friends?" Kazuma asks.

"My name is Ulrich Stern, you may find it difficult to believe, but I'm not from this world, I came from another dimension." Ulrich says.

"That doesn't faze me, I'm a bit of an avid believer in stuff like that. How long have you been in our dimension?" Kazuma asks, totally unfazed.

"Wow, I'm surprised, anyway, I've been here about three years." Ulrich says in obvious shock.

"I'm Katsuo Viperia, I'd like to say 'pleased to meet you' but we already know each other well enough." Katsuo says nonchalantly, but with a little laughing.

"Yeah, that is true." Kazuma responds with laughter.

"My name's Sylvia Miyagawa, I hope we can continue to work together, Kazuma-san, Airi-chan." Sylvia says politely.

"Eh...drop the formalities Sylvia; it gives me a really bad itch having to deal with it." Kazuma sighs and shrugs.

"Sure, Kazuma, but aren't you being hypocritical? You were rather formal before now." Sylvia says with a small laugh.

"Like I said, I don't like dealing with it, that doesn't mean I can't do it at all." Kazuma says slightly angrily.

"I'm Kazuto Kirigaya, and if you wouldn't mind Kazuma, think we can continue using our game names? Just for secrecy's sake?" Kazuto says.

"Sure, Kirito, I'll keep calling you all by your game names, at least, with Leafa and strangers around. Airi, I need you to keep everyone's secrets also, got it?" Kazuma says seriously.

"Got it, I won't spill your secrets, this time around; I have an obligation to keep this secret." Airi says seriously.

"Kazuma, Airi, since you two play this game, is Ophelia in the game as well?" Karen asks in a nostalgic tone, finally being reunited with some of her childhood friends, though everyone else is mildly clueless about this.

"Yeah, she plays too. In-game, she works for the Spriggan Royal Guard, her name is Yūgana. We may run into her when we meet with the Spriggan leader"

At this moment, Leafa logs back in to ALO.

"Welcome back Leafa, are you ready to go?" Kazuma asks.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [15:00] August 3rd 2025

"Yeah, what's our destination by the way?" Leafa asks.

"Yamiako, we have the Salamander Alpha Battalion assisting us, and Izanagi promised us the assistance of the Undine, so we just need to contact the Spriggan nation. After we do so, we will begin gathering in Aarun." Katsuo says.

"It'll take ages to reach the Spriggan territory from here, is there a closer place we can meet a diplomat or something?" Leafa asks with a sigh.

"Izanagi?" Katsuo asks in a question kind of tone.

"Hmm...I can contact the Spriggan leader and ask her to send a diplomatic envoy to Rainbow Valley supplemented with a warrior battalion" Kazuma says quietly, trying to think of an answer.

"I'm okay with that, I just want to leave Salamander territory fast...I keep feeling like I'm going to get PKed here..." Leafa shivers slightly as her eyes darted around, searching for red, aside from Katsuo.

"Okay, let's get to Rainbow Valley." Karen says optimistically.

Kazuma sends a message to the Spriggan leader to quickly mobilize a diplomatic team with a military battalion to discuss a plan to clear Yggdrasil.

They begin their flight from Fellyre Shire to reach Rainbow Valley that lies west of Undine territory.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [17:00] August 3rd 2025

The group makes it to a small settlement half way to the Rainbow Valley where they decide to take a break for their wings to recover, though Leafa, Kazuto, Airi, and Kazuma log out immediately for them to eat dinner in the real world, with Ulrich, Karen, Katsuo, and Sylvia heading to the inn to eat some food and pass time with conversation.

"Ulrich, I've been noticing that your stamina and strength seems to be increasing by the day, is that supposed to happen?" Katsuo asks mildly confused.

"How would I know? I haven't been able to make heads or tails about this situation. But could it be related to the fact Cardinal digitized my code?" Ulrich says mildly angrily.

"Actually that brings up an interesting point, why did Cardinal digitize your code? Such a thing would suggest that Cardinal had some sort of further purpose for you" Karen says seriously.

"Karen, didn't you say that I might've be recreated as a sort of guardian? From what I remember of XANA, that AI never gives up when he starts a goal, and it seemed rather evident in Aincrad. Also, if Cardinal truly is a network like you said, XANA's going to exist in any game that was based off SAO's original file, but even then, he could easily transfer himself to the internet if he feels like he's going to be in danger." Ulrich says calmly.

"Back in Aincrad, Kayaba told us that he created a firewall in Cardinal's programs, which it oversees, but if XANA does exist in Alfheim, he's been suspiciously quiet, we've all been here two months and none of his monsters have been seen anywhere." Karen says.

"Ulrich, you sure that XANA still exists? I'd say he was erased along with Aincrad." Katsuo says confidently.

"I wouldn't know, but the vague memory I have of XANA is his unyielding determination." Ulrich says quietly.

"Ulrich, since we're speaking of things from your past, have you managed to contact Aelita or your other friends?" Karen asks.

"...Who?" Ulrich asks in confusion.

"You've forgotten Aelita and your friends? Is that a side-effect or something?" Katsuo asks in surprise.

"...To be honest, aside from you all, XANA, the world name: Aincrad, and a few minor things, I've forgotten everything now..." Ulrich says sadly.

"That's...bizarre, I can't understand why that happened, maybe your new role needs maximum resolve, so you're only left with a few memories." Karen says quietly. "But...you had good memory of what happened before, I don't get why you can't seem to remember now..." Karen continues, mildly freaked out.

"I don't let it bother me, I know my goal, it's to help you all reunite, which I say I've been doing an excellent job at." Ulrich says calmly, but slightly conceitedly at the end.

"Shut up jerk...you've done a decent job finding us, but that's nothing to brag about...jackass..." Katsuo says, feeling slightly annoyed at Ulrich's sudden conceitedness.

"Katsuo? Is your Salamander anger taking you over again?" Sylvia asks worriedly.

"...Not exactly, the Salamander anger might be enhancing it, but it's pure anger against this jerk's conceit right now..." Katsuo mutters.

"Sorry about that Katsuo, I was trying to be a little funny there." Ulrich looks apologetic.

"You're not forgiven..." Katsuo growled, apparently still a bit pissed off.

"Alright boys, knock it off...we need to get back to business. We need to meet with the Spriggans, and then, we can go find out where Kana and Asuna are." Karen cuts in, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Karen, we know where they are, why do we need to bring up discussion about them?" Sylvia says calmly.

"Sylvia, you must be kidding me, we can't fully trust rumours here. We need hard facts at this point, especially with things here seriously getting hectic."

These complaints are beginning to increase when shouts from outside are heard suddenly, which surprise Ulrich and the others.

"What's going on out there?!" Katsuo says in shock.

The group leaves the inn and see five tall bug like monsters, about...eight meters high, attacking players in the settlement, with one noticeable icon: the spiralled eye which indicates it's one of XANA's monsters.

"Oh my god! It's one of XANA's monsters! He really is in Alfheim!" Sylvia gapes at the spiralled eye.

"We never saw one of those in Aincrad; it has to be a new creation of his." Karen eyed the monster with curiosity.

"We know how to slay these monsters, there's no reason to be alarmed." Ulrich says calmly, while drawing his katana and charging at one of the monsters.

However, the monster he charged at quickly entraps him with its legs, then uses its hidden drill on him, which instantly depletes Ulrich's HP, making him turn into a remain light with a heavy wind gust.

"Ulrich!" Karen, Katsuo, and Sylvia shout in surprise.

"Karen, we could really use your Sleuth skill right now." Katsuo says, with the monsters staring him down a little.

"Katsuo, I don't have that skill anymore! My unique skill was lost when I transferred to this game. Ulrich lost his Triangulate, Triplicate, and Super-sprint unique skills as well." Karen growls, losing one of her most important and strongest abilities was annoying for her.

"Damn it...I guess we'll have to try doing this without it, not that it helped a whole lot with XANA's monsters..." Katsuo mutters angrily.

The group of three draw their weapons, with Karen and Sylvia surrounding the monster at both sides and willingly let themselves be ensnared to keep the monster off-balance, with Katsuo using his great-sword to do a clean cut stab at the monster while it kept Karen and Sylvia restrained. Karen then ran toward Ulrich's flame and casted the resurrection spell, which brings him back to life, with Ulrich possessing a very negative frown, ashamed he died so easily.

"Ulrich, next time, do not charge off on your own, you suicidal idiot!" Katsuo shouts in anger, but eyed him with worry.

"Save the chat for later Katsuo! We need to slay the other monsters!" Karen snaps back angrily.

"Ulrich, I trust you saw what we did, Karen and I will act as the distraction. You and Katsuo slay the monsters!" Sylvia says.

"Yeah, I saw how, let's slay these monsters!" Ulrich says calmly, and in defeat.

Ulrich and the others quickly slay these new monsters in the same method Katsuo, Karen, and Sylvia used to slay the first one. However, with the last two, they group together and successfully trap all four of them.

"Damn it! They caught me off-guard!" Katsuo cursed in anger.

The monsters are about to activate their drills when a combination of magic and sword skills suddenly make them explode into pixels. Ulrich and the others see Kazuma and Leafa at a distance and Kazuto and Airi are seen with their weapons out; with Airi laughing like a cat.

"You all owe us big" Kazuma says also laughing.

"Everyone! You came in the nick of time, you have my thanks" Karen says respectfully.

"How did you know how to slay those monsters Izanagi, Okamoto, Leafa?" Karen asks.

"I didn't know to be honest, I improvised. But...what were those things?" Leafa says nonchalantly.

"I don't know the name of them but Aio, Yami, Mina, and I faced similar creatures in Sword Art Online." Karen states calmly.

"You four were in Sword Art Online?" Leafa asks curiously.

"Yeah; Aio, Ash, Mina, and I were in SAO before we started playing this game." Katsuo says calmly.

"We're trying to find our last two friends and then clear Yggdrasil, We theorize that Oberon would be able to help us find our last two friends that are somewhere in this world." Sylvia says, making up a pretty good lie.

"Okay...but how are these creatures here if they were in SAO?" Leafa asks curiously.

"I don't really know, but I have a good feeling that the AI who created these monsters is active in Alfheim...things are going to be even more hectic." Katsuo says quietly.

"Just like Aincrad...XANA acted as an inert AI program until it had the capability to fight back." Ulrich says quietly, with mild anger that Cardinal allowed this to happen again.

"If this...XANA is in Alfheim Online, we need to hurry to Rainbow Valley, the Spriggans may not be aware of this!" Kazuma pointed out in worry.

"Let's get flying, it'll take a good hour to reach the edge of Rainbow Valley from here." Karen says in concern.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [18:00] August 3rd 2025

Ulrich and his companions rush to reach the Rainbow Valley and make it after an hour of flight, where they find the Spriggan diplomatic envoy, taking heavy fire from flying monsters that look like Manta rays and hornets; there is evidence of casualties among the Spriggans because of Remain Lights that dotted the field. Upon investigation, the Spriggan leader, which appears to be a female player because of the heavy embroidery on her clothing, is surrounded by five other Spriggans with everyone else fighting these monsters to little avail, as they don't know the weaknesses of these things.

"Aio, Yami, Ash, Mina, protect the Spriggan leader! Kirito, Okamoto, Leafa, you're with me! We need to defeat those monsters!" Kazuma barks out.

"Izanagi, I think you should be protecting the Spriggan leader with Ash, Mina, and Okamoto, you'd be leaving yourself short-handed to fight the monsters. Let me, Yami, Kirito, and Leafa handle these guys, Yami, Kirito, and I know how to fight these things." Ulrich called back before they all flew off.

"Hmm… very well. We need to protect the Spriggan leader, if she perishes here, the Spriggans will classify this as an act of war against the Undines. We cannot let that happen!" Kazuma says aggressively to the group.

Kazuma, Karen, Sylvia, and Airi fly toward the Spriggan leader while Ulrich, Kazuto, Leafa, and Katsuo fly toward the rest of the Spriggan military unit that's fighting the monsters.

"Izanagi! If I find you planned this, I'm going to make you regret it!" The Spriggan's leader says angrily.

"Don't worry Lady Muraoka, I did not plan this, but listen, we're here to protect you" Kazuma says charismatically, trying to calm her down.

"I see, well either way, having your help will be great." Muraoka says calming down.

"Ashikaga, Minatoya, Okamoto, we'll be staying here to guard Muraoka." Kazuma says seriously.

"What about Ulkaios and the others? They're risking their lives against these monsters!" Sylvia asks worriedly.

"They'll need to get by on their own, I highly doubt there will be any reinforcements coming our way." Karen says concerned.

"Muraoka, is there any way for you to bring in more Spriggans? We could use the reinforcements." Kazuma looked at the Spriggan leader, hoping against all odds that she had brought more players with her.

"The royal guard I brought with me were the only ones within a four hour radius of this location, there is no one else nearby that can reinforce us… we're on our own." Muraoka shook her head sadly.

* * *

While Karen and the others are guarding Muraoka; Katsuo, Kazuto, Ulrich, and Leafa are leading what remains of the Spriggan attack force and their team. However, these new monsters belonging to XANA are insanely powerful, they can't land any successful hits on these monsters, they're just too damn agile.

"These monsters are too fast! We can't land any blows on them!" A surviving member of the Spriggan combat squad shouts.

"They're too powerful! We need to get Lady Muraoka out of here!" Another Spriggan member says.

"This area's swarming with monsters! We can't execute the evacuation until we secure an escape route!" Katsuo shouts at the two of them.

"Damn it all! That damn Undine leader will be the death of us all!" The voice apparently came from the Spriggan's royal guard leader.

Katsuo quickly flies over to that player and punches him in the face, the royal guard leader drifted backwards slightly from the force.

"Don't question your leader's orders! We must fight!" Katsuo barks angrily.

"We're severely undermanned, how are we supposed to fight these things?!" The Spriggan royal guard leader shouts in anger over the situation and Katsuo punching him.

"Target the ringed eyes on the monsters! Kirito, Yamakage, and I will demonstrate!" Ulrich shouts with pride.

Kazuto, Katsuo, and Ulrich target the monsters' ringed eyes and they explode into pixels after they stab the location of the ringed eye. This increases the morale of the remaining Spriggans, and victories are increasing as they now know the weakness of the enemy monsters, however casualties for the Spriggans are still constant, at this rate, the monsters will break through and target Muraoka and her personal guard.

"Listen Salamander, we're going to lose Lady Muraoka at this rate, we need reinforcements!" The Spriggan combat leader says.

"Look, we just need to fight a while longer, once we establish a clear line, we'll evacuate Muraoka and her guard, and my name is Yamakage." Katsuo says very seriously.

"Yamakage, even if that's true, we're down over forty men! We can't keep them back much longer!" One of the remaining Spriggan fighters says.

"Guys, our reinforcements may have finally arrived!" Ulrich shouts, looking to the west.

The Spriggans look to the west and notice a medium sized group of large monsters.

"My god! Those are Grand Wyverns; they're the most deadly enemies in this area. They're crazy hostile, we're screwed!" The Spriggan leader shouts in fear and anger.

"I don't think so." Ulrich replied, looking confident.

The wyverns mobilize in force and begin solely targeting the foreign entities that attacked the Spriggans, much to their surprise. A single one of these wyverns fly toward them, with Katsuo and Ulrich intercepting the Grand Wyvern just in case it is hostile toward them and the Spriggans.

"You may find this difficult to believe, but we have been ordered to protect you." The wyvern somehow says, but Ulrich notices a very bright blue color in its eyes.

"Cardinal I presume?" Ulrich asks, noticing the blue color of the eyes.

"Correct...I am not as powerful as the one you knew in Aincrad, but I can still manipulate monster AI to an extent. I'm slowly manipulating the AI zone by zone. The one advantage I possess for now is that I was able to get the jump on XANA before he built up his strength, however, he is growing in power, it won't be long before he is able to unleash his monsters in full force." Alfheim's Cardinal says calmly.

"Cardinal, either way, your help is much appreciated; we were nearly done for before you got here." Katsuo says, nodding to the AI in the monster.

"It is the least I can do. While I have my Wyverns distracting XANA's monsters, get the Spriggan leader out of here." Cardinal says before releasing control of the individual wyvern and it resumes its new order of fighting XANA.

Katsuo and Ulrich return to the group to inform them that the Wyverns are going to be stalling for time.

"Alright everyone! Fall back to Muraoka's position and begin evacuation!" Leafa shouts.

The Spriggan military unit, Ulrich, Katsuo, Kazuto, and Leafa fall back to the plateau where Muraoka and her guard are to begin the evacuation.

"What the hell is going on? Are there Cait Siths nearby? I can't think of any other reason as to why Wyverns are helping us." Muraoka says in surprise.

"Let's just say...the Wyverns had a change of heart and desire to destroy the monsters that invaded its territory." Ulrich says calmly, trying to hide the real reason of their assistance.

"Muraoka, let's just be thankful we have allies buying us time. Let's get out of here" Kazuma says seriously.

"Yeah...let's go" Muraoka says semi-calmly.

* * *

Ulrich and his extended group flee the area while the Wyverns are buying time for them by distracting XANA's monsters. They fly to a secure area north of the meeting ground when Muraoka and the remnants of the Spriggan royal guard touch down followed by Ulrich and his group.

"You all have my gratitude for getting me out of there alive; I just wish my royal guard was in better shape..." Muraoka bows slightly with a slight grimace as she remembered the slaughter her guard went through.

"Muraoka, I'm aware this might not be the best time for this but, I'd like you and your forces to assist me to clear Yggdrasil." Kazuma says calmly.

Muraoka takes a look at Kazuma's group, her royal guard, and the surrounding environment before saying.

"You've always been a decent colleague Izanagi, as much as I'd like to say no, you helped me many times when the Spriggan nation was in danger, I need to repay you for that. I'll provide you with my royal guard as soon as we can regroup. When do you plan on going up Yggdrasil?" Muraoka replied instantly.

"We're gathering our allies as we speak, we'll be attempting to clear Yggdrasil within three days' time, the Cait Sith and Sylph is currently outfitting their armies as we speak, the Salamander Alpha Battalion is already marching to Aarun, and around 45% of my Undine healers are on-route and have already linked up with the Alpha Battalion, the others are still preparing." Kazuma answers in report format.

"Impressive Izanagi, you always were the sort to prepare everything before bringing it to the table. I'm afraid my forces will be the last to arrive at this rate. As you know, Spriggans aren't very strong compared to the other races as a whole, I need to reinforce my capital's security, and then I'll join you in battle." Muraoka informed the Undine.

"I'm looking forward to it my friend." Kazuma says with a laugh.

"Leader...I wish to travel with Izanagi if you'll allow it." A female Spriggan player wearing silver and black colored dress armor asks sheepishly. Katsuo and the others recognize this female Spriggan fighting against the Mantas in the air.

"Yūgana, you want to travel with Izanagi's group?" Muraoka repeats for clarification.

"Yes, I saw what Izanagi's friends were capable of, they the most diverse fighting force I've ever seen. Aside from the Gnomes and Leprechauns, this group has members from every race in Alfheim: Cait Sith, Imp, Puca, Salamander, Spriggan, Sylph, and Undine." Yūgana says, still sheepishly.

"Hm...very well Yūgana, you may travel with your family, keep them safe." Muraoka says before departing.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [19:00] August 3rd 2025

"Yūgana, it's good you again sister, I haven't seen you in this game in since you were appointed to Muraoka's royal guard." Kazuma says while lightly hugging his sibling.

"Same to you brother, and Muraoka is a good person to work with surprisingly." Yūgana says happily.

"I hate to leave you all hanging like this, but I need to leave for the night. I'll be back tomorrow." Leafa says before logging out.

Because this is a safe zone, Leafa logs out immediately leaving Ulrich and the others.

"Okay, with Leafa not here, let's get introductions out of the way. Everyone, this is my younger sister: Ophelia Takara." Kazuma says calmly.

"My name is Karen Koizumi, I'm glad to see you again Ophelia." Karen smiles at the female Spriggan.

"Karen, I haven't seen you awake in years, whenever I visit your hospital room, you're always asleep." Ophelia says sadly.

"Sorry about that Ophelia" Karen says apologetically.

"I'm Ulrich Stern, nice to meet you." Ulrich says calmly.

"Ulrich Stern...I think I heard about you from other SAO players that left Aincrad. You were one of the best right?" Ophelia asks.

Ulrich is about to talk before getting stopped by Katsuo.

"Ulrich, don't you dare!" Katsuo growls a warning to Ulrich, recognising the look on his face.

"Knock it off, both of you!" Airi says angrily before whacking them both with her battleaxe.

"OW! That was uncalled for! And why'd you hit me?!" Katsuo shouts in anger while wincing in pain, while Ulrich is simple rubbing the back of his head in pain.

Ophelia begins laughing at their misfortune.

"Hahaha, Airi, you're as lively in this game as ever I see." Ophelia says, unable to hold back her laughs.

"Anyway...I'm Katsuo Viperia...pleased to meet you..." Katsuo says, a hand rubing the now glowing red spot where Airi's battleaxe had connected with his head.

"My name is Sylvia Miyagawa, pleased to meet you." Sylvia says with a bow.

"I'm Kazuto Kirigaya." Kazuto says simply.

"Kazuto, now I know I've heard of you, you're the dual blade swordsman of Aincrad. You're a bit of a living legend." Ophelia says calmly. "I assume you've all been trapped here since Sword Art was cleared? But what I don't understand is why you're trapped when the others are fine." Ophelia asks in confusion.

"That's what we want to know…" Katsuo mutters angrily, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Kazuma, Airi, we should get going as well actually...but Kazuto, Karen, Katsuo, Sylvia, Ulrich, do you want me to try relaying messages to anyone on the outside?" Ophelia asks compassionately.

"Ophelia, I'd appreciate it if you could let my family know that their little girl is okay and that is doing whatever it takes to return to them." Karen says sadly.

"Could you try contacting my sister and tell her I'll do whatever it takes to reconcile the three year absence I've had to deal with? Her name's Madoka Miyagawa." Sylvia says sadly.

"I'm not trapped here like Katsuo and the others, I don't need messages relayed." Kazuto says simply when they look at him.

"I don't need a message relayed to anyone..." Katsuo shrugs.

"Same here." Ulrich says.

"Okay, Karen, I'll pass your message to your parents when I see them, and Sylvia, I'll do some tracking to find your sister, don't worry, I'll pass the message to her." Ophelia says seriously.

* * *

Kazuto, Kazuma, Airi, and Ophelia log out for the night leaving Ulrich, Katsuo, Sylvia, and Karen alone. Shortly after they logged out, a group of Wyverns native to this area fly toward Ulrich's group.

"Ulrich Stern, Katsuo Viperia, Sylvia Miyagawa, Karen Koizumi, we've been ordered by Cardinal to escort you to a safe location and protect you." A wyvern with very bright blue eyes addresses the group.

"Where will we be going to?" Karen asks.

"We've been ordered to bring you to a small mountain pass to the northwest of here, you'll be safe there. Cardinal has successfully managed to overwrite the AI of half the monsters here in Rainbow Valley, where XANA's activity is heaviest." The wyvern says replies.

Ulrich and his group reluctantly follow the wyverns to the mountain pass and find that the pass leads to a dead-end about fifty feet in, and the surrounding mountain is too high for monsters to fly over, so this is a perfect defensive point.

"You'll be safe here for the night, my brothers and I will guard you from XANA." The wyvern says.

"I appreciate it, but what about our friends? They logged out in the area where we were before." Karen asks in concern.

"Cardinal is changing their log-in coordinates to this general area, they will spawn eight feet in the air, so there will be a tiny bit of warning if they log in above you. It also prevents lasting injury on their part." The wyvern says before flying over to an alcove to guard Ulrich and the others.

"We've got a fortified area with wyverns protecting us; we won't need to worry about shifts tonight." Karen says optimistically, opening her inventory and bringing out four tents and bentos. "Let's eat some food and then go to sleep."

"Wow, it's been such a long time since I've had your cooking Karen, I'm looking forward to this." Katsuo says happily, since they didn't eat last time they slept near the Sylph meeting ground.

Karen passes a bento to each of them for them to eat, and they all eat in a different way: Katsuo is devouring the bento like an animal, scaring the others. Ulrich is eating slowly and calmly, since he's used to Karen's cooking, and because of his samurai upbringing he lived with the last few couple of years. Sylvia is eating like a typical elegant Japanese woman, similar to Ulrich's style but much more formal. Karen is eating casually like Katsuo but nowhere close to how he is. After they finish eating, Karen passes a camping unit to the others and they quickly set up the tents and go to sleep for the night, guarded by the Wyverns.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [2:00] August 4th 2025

Ulrich has just woken up with Ophelia's and Airi's assistance

"Wake up Aio." Ophelia says calmly, with a motherly tone, surprisingly for a 14 year old.

"...give me five minutes..." Ulrich rolls over in his sleep.

"Get up you lazy oaf!" Airi barks out at him.

"Okamoto, be nice." Ophelia says in a motherly tone.

Ulrich finally wakes up and slowly walks out of his tent to find everyone in the group up and about, apparently waiting for Ulrich to wake up.

"Why the hell are you waking me up this early…?" Ulrich demands blearily, still half asleep.

"We've all been getting bad feelings since we left and it's been keeping us up, so we wanted to get to Aarun as quickly as possible." Kazuma explains quickly.

"If you're ready Aio, let's get going, our armies have already begun their march to Aarun surprisingly." Karen says.

"I've been brought up to speed about this situation by Izanagi and Ash, if we leave now, we'll make it to Aarun in about two hours, we should try gathering some intel on the World Tree dungeon." Ophelia says calmly.

"If that's true, let's get going." Sylvia says calmly.

Ulrich and his friends walk toward the entrance of the pass and begin the flight to Aarun to gather information on the dungeon before the entirety of the armies of the Sylph, Cait Sith, Salamander, Undine, and Spriggan arrive to begin the operation.


	5. Chapter 4: Ascension into Yggdrasil

Ulrich's group has finally arrived in Aarun and will be undergoing the quest of clearing the World Tree: Yggdrasil. Will they be able to find Amaterasu before they do this, or are they going to be one member short when they do the grand quest? And what will be their method to handling XANA's presence in Alfheim Online?

A/N: This chapter heavily uses POVs (Point of Views), when I use this, be aware that they happen at the same time as the event specified, it'll get tougher to notice time as this chapter goes on, so be cautious and make mental notes while you read.

I sadly am not using a beta reader this time round, so the general quality of this chapter won't be as 'pristine' as the others in this story. Please R&R.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [3:50] August 4th 2025

Ulrich's group has been flying to Aarun since they were woken up about an hour and a half ago, and they've been seeing fights between the monsters belonging to Cardinal and XANA all over the place in this side of the Alfheim world. It's apparently true that the monster AI belonging to Cardinal have indeed been overwritten to only fight XANA's creations as not a single one monster belonging to Cardinal have fought the group, and some have even asked for assistance from Ulrich's group when they're encountered. They finally arrive in Aarun, with the group splitting up into two to do a little shopping before the final battle.

* * *

Ulrich's POV: Ulrich, Kazuto, Katsuo, Karen, Sylvia

Ulrich and the others have arrived in Aarun with minimal problems, much to their relief, until a system notice suddenly happens

"**The servers will be undergoing maintenance from 4 AM to 7 AM, all players are recommended to log out immediately.**"

Thankfully, because Airi, Leafa, Kazuma, and Ophelia are away shopping, Ulrich and the others are able to talk privately, and not needing to hold back their fears.

"What are we going to do?! The system maintenance could delete us entirely! Maintenance usually always shuts down the servers, and since we're stuck here, we could erased!" Sylvia says very worriedly, since no maintenance has been done in their time here.

"Guys, if my knowledge is right, inns are the only safe zones from server maintenance, let's just hurry to a nearby inn." Karen says calmly, trying to hide her own fear.

"Yui, where's the nearest inn from here?" Kazuto asks her a little worriedly.

"I'll lead you there, just follow me" Yui says, leading the group to the inn.

* * *

Izanagi's POV: Izanagi, Ophelia, Airi, Leafa

"That's just wonderful...we just got here and we already have to leave." Kazuma says angrily.

"Just relax Izanagi, let's just try to take it easy" Ophelia says, trying to calm down Kazuma.

"She has a point, try to relax" Airi says a little worriedly, since she knows the main underlining issue.

"_I wonder if he's worried about Karen, he did have a crush on her from the first day he laid his eyes on her._" Ophelia says to herself, laughing a little.

"...I know but still..." Kazuma says in defeat.

"Izanagi, let's just return to reality, we'll return to Alfheim as soon as we're able, okay?" Ophelia says in her usual motherly tone.

"Alright" Kazuma says calmly in defeat.

"I don't know why you're so freaked out Izanagi, it's just maintenance, we can log back in when it ends." Leafa says nonchalantly.

"It's...not as simple as that..." Kazuma says sadly, since he knows the truth about Karen and the others.

"Come on everyone, let's go find Aio and the others, then go to an inn and log out for now." Ophelia says calmly.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [3:55] August 4th 2025

The group has reunited at the Amber Wind Inn where Leafa, Kazuto, and Airi log out immediately, but Ophelia and Kazuma are sticking around a while longer before 4 AM.

"Karen, Ulrich, Katsuo, Sylvia, are you four going to be alright? I feel a tiny bit bad forcing us to separate again" Ophelia says sadly.

"Ophelia, we'll be okay, don't worry about it." Ulrich says calmly.

"Ophelia, you're just as emotional as before, you would think you'd have become more serious while working with Lady Muraoka." Kazuma says mildly calmly, but mildly angrily as well.

"Kazuma, leave me alone..." Ophelia says before logging out.

"Christ...I'm going to have utter hell to deal with...wish me luck..." Kazuma says nervously before logging out.

Around this point, a female Leprechaun player with mechanical wings, wearing silver clothing, walks into the inn seemingly trying to find an area to log out safely, this player looks a lot like Amaterasu, much to the group's surprise.

"Oh hello there, sorry if I'm interrupting anything, I was looking for a safe place to wait out this maintenance period." The Leprechaun player says happily, but apologetically at the same time.

"Are you Krisaga?" Karen asks.

"I am, how do you know me? I don't recall seeing you in my shop before now." Krisaga asks.

"I was one of your previous customers Krisaga, former Major of the Salamander Alpha Battalion, Yamakage" Katsuo says calmly.

"Oh, Yamakage, you were my best customer back then. Why did you leave the Salamanders?" Krisaga asks in an unusually upbeat tone.

"Oh no reason...I'm merely traveling with friends now Krisaga, or should I say: Kana Shimuzu." Katsuo says proudly.

"If you know my real identity, you clearly are Katsuo Viperia, and if you're friends of Katsuo, I imagine you're Karen Koizumi, Sylvia Miyagawa, and Ulrich Stern." Kana says very confidently.

"You truly are very perceptive Kana, I always admired that about you" Karen says with a smile.

"Thank you Karen, for some reason, I doubt the four of you travel on your own, do you have any more companions?" Kana asks calmly.

"We're actually traveling with five other people, Kazuto Kirigaya from Aincrad, a Sylph player named Leafa, a Cait Sith player named Okamoto, the Undine leader: Izanagi, and a member of the Spriggan royal guard: Yūgana." Karen says calmly.

"Good, I see you all have a diverse group, I imagine you all are going to try clearing Yggdrasil?" Kana asks in a calm tone, but slightly conceited, but not too much, compared to Ulrich.

"Yeah, as soon as our allies arrive in force, we'll march to clear Yggdrasil." Sylvia says calmly.

"When that happens, bring me along, I want to help just like the old days with the Silver Valkyrie guild." Kana says in a nostalgic tone.

"We'd gladly bring you along Kana, but what about your work in your shop?" Katsuo asks worriedly.

"I hired three NPCs to work my shop, they can handle sales work, I just hope my supply of weapons and armors last while I'm away" Kana says calmly, and a little worriedly at the end.

"I see well...welcome back Krisaga" Karen says emotionally.

"If you want to use ingame names, please just call me Kri. But with our familiarity with each other, just call me Kana" Kana says optimistically.

"Got it...if you wouldn't mind...let's get to sleep..." Ulrich says, hardly able to keep himself up from the rough awakening and sudden flight not too long ago.

"Yeah, let's all get to sleep" Karen says calmly.

They pay for rooms for the night and when they go to their rooms, they all ponder a few things when they try to fall asleep.

* * *

"_I can hardly consider this coincidence...Karen's been searching for Katsuo and our friends ever since she arrived in Alfheim Online...and yet I've found everyone in our group save Asuna in two days time. Karen's been traveling all this time, Katsuo was a high ranking member of the Salamander military: Major Yamakage, Sylvia was a traveling musician, and Kana was a merchant in Aarun. Something Karen said is putting me off-guard too, who exactly is Aelita...? That name sounds familiar somehow, but how...?_" Ulrich thinks to himself.

"_We've finally found everyone, except for Asuna. Now that I think about it, what happened to Rika, Keiko, Andrew, Mamoru, Haruka, Tsuboi, and the others? They were small-term members of our group back in Aincrad. I wonder if they're trapped here as well or if they got lucky and are back in __reality? Actually...now that I think about it...I wonder if the pre-requisite that I thought of a while back is true or not, where we all need to be together in the same game world for Ulrich to materialize. I wonder if it applies to me, Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia. I'm curious if Kazuto is __needed for this, or if any of us is needed for Ulrich to materialize, maybe XANA's existence is the reason for his transfer from MMO to __MMO...I don't even know anymore..._" Karen says to herself.

"_Ulrich is so different from how he was in Aincrad...he's stronger certainly but his personality has taken a total U-turn in this game, he had an honorable samurai mindset back in Aincrad, I respected that and developed a fondness of that mindset, but ever since I met up __with him here in Alfheim, he's been an egotistic jackass, it's pissing me off...I wonder if the transfer from Aincrad to Alfheim changed his personality or if he's acting like this intentionally..._" Katsuo says angrily, but confused at his friend's transformation.

"_I know that XANA is here in Alfheim Online, but his actions this time around are very suspicious...back in Aincrad, he attacked everyone indiscriminately, but he's focusing all of his efforts against us this time. Maybe XANA's fearful of our skill and knowledge of his monsters. Though I haven't seen any Krabs, Kankrelats, Bloks, Creepers, and Tarantulas in this world, only three types, that hornet looking monster, a manta ray looking monster, and that creepy monster we saw in that settlement. Perhaps Cardinal sent a sort of firewall program to prevent XANA from spawning those kinds of __monsters so he had to change things up by spawning these new kinds_" Sylvia says calmly, but a little creeped out as well.

"_Hm...after all this time, the five of us have finally reunited, but even with our united strength, I seriously wonder if we'd be able to clear Yggdrasil, I'm hoping these armies Katsuo and the others gathered are up to par. I wonder what their goal is, why would they want to clear Yggdrasil in the first place?_" Kana asks herself.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [9:00] August 4th 2025

After a comfortable rest in the Amber Wind Inn, Ulrich and the others are now fully rested from their forced march from Butterfly Valley and encounter Kazuto, Leafa, Airi, Kazuma, and Ophelia in the lobby wanting to go gather information on Yggdrasil.

"Everyone, if you're ready, let's go get to Yggdrasil." Kazuma says calmly.

"Actually, Izanagi, Okamoto, Yūgana, would you three mind if you gathered as much information as possible about Aarun? We need a place for our army leaders to meet up and some place for our army to stay until we begin the operation" Karen asks calmly.

"Sure, do you see that tall tower to the northwest, let's meet there in about...an hour's time." Ophelia says after looking around the city a little while.

"Got it Yūgana, see you guys later" Karen says optimistically before the three of them walk away. "Okay, let's start walking around and find the base of Yggdrasil" Karen continues.

"But Ash, what about Yūgana and the others, do we intend to just...cut them out of the equation?" Leafa asks her worriedly.

"I don't want them at risk... It's safer if they don't come with us for now" Karen says sadly.

"I'll lead you all to the base of the tree, I stop by there rather often on my walks around Aarun. Follow me" Kana says calmly.

Ulrich and his friends then walk toward the world tree: Yggdrasil with assistance from their guide: Kana. They're still quite a ways away when Yui suddenly comes out of Kazuto's coat pocket, to the surprise of Kana, Katsuo and Sylvia, as they haven't seen Yui before now.

"Papa! I can detect Mama's player ID, it's right above us!" Yui shouts in mild surprise.

Kazuto's calm demeanor suddenly turns into a very angry expression, and suddenly flies toward Yggdrasil with rapid speed.

"Kirito-kun! Wait!" Leafa shouts in surprise before taking off after him.

"Guys, we need to go after Kirito!" Ulrich says seriously, with Karen, Katsuo, Sylvia, and Kana all nodding in approval, and activate their wings to fly after him and Leafa.

Kazuto is trying to reach the top of the World Tree using his flight ability without clearing the dungeon but is stopped by an invisible barrier which is very quickly pissing him off as he is repeatedly punching it, desperate to try get through. Ulrich and the others were able to catch up to Kazuto and are in awestruck at the brutality that he is using to try getting up that tree.

"Kirito-kun! That barrier can't be broken! The game Admins created that after five players nearly made it through not too long ago" Leafa says in sadness.

"I have to get past this barrier! I have to!" Kazuto says angrily.

"It's impossible Kirito-kun!" Leafa says, trying to discourage Kirito from doing this.

* * *

Asuna's POV:

"_I've been trapped here ever since I left Aincrad, if it wasn't for the fact Sugou told me that Kirito-kun was alive, I might've given up hope by now. That single thought is the only thing keeping me going...I know Kazuto and I know that he would come rescue me upon realizing I'm here. I merely need to wait until he does so. I have a good feeling that Katsuo, Kana, Karen, Sylvia, and Ulrich will surely help him reach me __when they find each other. I've seen the prowess of what these five can do when united, and they are unstoppable when they're determined. As long as I can keep hope alive, they will find me and we can all escape this world together and return to reality. The one thing I have that can help them now is the admin card I stole when I tried to escape, this card can not help me here...but it can help Kirito-kun and the others. Kirito-kun... everyone, I am going to release control of this card and hope it reaches you..._" Asuna says to herself sadly, upon hearing Yui's voice.

Asuna then drops the admin card, her last hope of escape, out of the prison she's trapped in and hopes that Kazuto receives it.

* * *

Normal POV:

Kazuto is getting infuriated and begins to draw his Black Iron Great Sword to attack the barrier when he notices a light in the distance, beyond the barrier.

"What is that light?" Kazuto asks in surprise.

He cups his hands and the card falls into his hand, which he holds up to find a metal card with a purple light along a side of it. They all approach Kazuto to try figuring out what the card is.

"Do any of you know what this card is?" Kazuto asks them.

They inspect the card as best they can

"Sadly no...but my guess is that it's designed to be scanned by something, you can tell from the appearance of the thin purple color on the side" Karen says sadly.

Yui approaches the card herself and places her hands on it to try analyzing it and says

"This is an Admin's access code" Yui says seriously.

"Yui, can we use this to access admin controls?!" Kazuto asks in surprise.

"Sadly no...you'd need the correct terminal to access the admin code...Not even I can open the menu for this item..." Yui says sadly.

"I see...however, something this valuable wouldn't be here for no reason...She probably..." Kazuto says sadly, and slightly cryptically.

"Mama must've heard us and dropped this card for us" Yui says sadly.

There's a moment of silence between the group, if there was any doubt before now, it's no longer existent...Asuna is definitely at the top of this tree and she must be saved, no matter what.

"Leafa, answer one of my questions. Where's the gate that leads inside the World Tree?" Kazuto asks seriously.

"It's in the dome at the base of Yggdrasil...wait, you can't get in you know! It's protected by guardians, not even the Salamander team led by Yamakage was able to get through! They got annihilated in three minutes!" Leafa says in concern.

"Gee...thanks for reminding me Leafa" Katsuo says very angrily.

"It doesn't matter, I have to go there... Thank you for everything Leafa. I'll be doing the rest of this with Aio and the others." Kazuto says calmly.

There's an emotional scene between Ulrich's group and Leafa as they slowly nod in approval then fly toward the dome leading to Yggdrasil. They fly down to the ground where Kazuto crashed in a dramatic style while the rest of the group touch down more gently.

"Krisaga, how do we reach the dome from here?" Kazuto asks seriously.

"It's up those stairs and-" Kana tries to say before Kazuto takes off flying again.

"Geez Kazuto..." Ulrich says very quietly. "Everyone, let's go after him!" Ulrich says in his regular tone, with the others nodding and chasing after Kazuto.

They catch up with Kazuto as he begins his march to the top of the stairs leading to the dome, with the rest of the group following behind him, mentally preparing themselves for the strongest fight of their lives in Alfheim. Ulrich and his group are slowly marching up the staircase, and during the march up the stairs; Ulrich, Katsuo, and Karen receive messages from Muraoka, Akita: Kazuma's 2nd in command, Eugene, Sakuya, and Alicia explaining this same general theme.

"_We are sorry, but we are only able to send thirty percent of our forces to Aarun, monsters of unknown origin are attacking our capitals and we must send back the other 70% of our forces to reinforce our borders. We however are still going to Aarun as planned, we will arrive in one hour's time. Hold on until we arrive_"

"Our reinforcements from our armies are extremely limited, this will be far more challenging than we anticipated." Karen says seriously continuing her march.

"Bring it on, I've been wanting to beat this dungeon since I failed it last time" Katsuo says with fire in his eyes.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [10:00] August 4th 2025

They approach the door when a voice is heard, apparently from the statues blocking the door with their swords.

"**You who know nothing about the heights of heaven...Do thou desire passage to the King's Castle?**" The statues say.

A quest window appears in front of each of them saying '_Will you attempt the Grand Quest "Guardians of the World Tree_'?' They all press the accept button and the Statues raise their swords which opens the door to the dome.

"**Then show that you are worthy of letting your wings take unlimited flight**" The statues say.

Upon the finish of this speech from the statues, the door finally opens and they draw their weapons in preparation for the Grand Quest.

"Let's go everyone. Yui, keep your head down" Kazuto says seriously.

"Good luck Papa, everyone" Yui says scared, before hiding herself entirely in Kazuto's coat pocket.

They march inside the dome with their weapons drawn and enter a room with pure darkness that is quickly illuminated by bright light after Kazuto and his friends survey the surroundings.

"Everyone, be careful of those blue crystals on the walls, they're what summon the Guardians. We barely got past the eighth row of those things before we began getting annihilated and were forced to retreat." Katsuo says seriously, remembering his last attempt.

Kazuto and his friends look up to find atleast a hundred rows of these crystals alongside the wall leading up and find some sort of pattern on the roof, which upon investigation is flower shaped.

"Everyone, before we begin the operation, let's work out a strategy. Kana, how skilled are you in healing?" Karen asks.

"I'm a decent healer, why?" Kana asks.

"We're going to split into two teams of three, Kazuto, Ulrich, Katsuo, you're the vanguard here. I will stay near here in reserve and use offensive magic to support them while Sylvia protects us while we use magic. Kana, use your healing magic to keep Kazuto and the others alive. Get my strategy here?" Karen states.

"Yeah" Katsuo, Ulrich, Kana, and Sylvia say confidently.

"Let's go!" Kazuto says in anger before taking off to fly to the dome with Katsuo and Ulrich in pursuit.

* * *

Kazuto, Katsuo, and Ulrich quickly begin their flight up to the roof and make it past twenty rows of spheres before the Guardians begin spawning. When Kazuto sees the first one above row thirty, he quickly gets angry and shouts as he charges to attack it, leaving Katsuo and Ulrich at row twenty three or so.

"Get out of my way!" Kazuto shouts while stabbing the guardian in the head with his black iron great sword, beheading it and making it explode with purple light. "I can handle this!" Kazuto says with pride.

"Kazuto! This is just the start, look!" Katsuo says with mild anger, that Kazuto marched so quickly and made things far more dangerous, as dozens of guardians are spawning now, with Katsuo and Ulrich being forced to separate to take on scattered guardians instead of working together, with about half of the guardians branching off targeting Karen, Sylvia, and Kana.

"Karen! Get Sylvia and Kana out of here!" Katsuo shouts, hoping that Karen heard him.

Karen however disobeys that order and directs Sylvia and Kana to give up the idea of using magic and charge straight in handling melee. Kazuto, Ulrich, and Katsuo are still very spread out and are being cornered by the guardians, which is making it impossible to advance further because of the massive number of guardians attacking the group. However, Kazuto somehow is able to push on and is thirty meters from the roof, but is getting shot at by Archer Guardians as a result. However him doing this results in him abandoning Ulrich, Katsuo, Karen, Kana, and Sylvia, who are being pinned down by Guardians as the five of them are very spread out and cannot reinforce each other and are in a state where they cannot easily escape with their lives.

"Damn it! For every one of these Guardians we kill, ten take their place!" Ulrich shouts, killing six Guardians, unsure if his friends heard.

"Did Kazuto just...abandon us?!" Katsuo asks, looking up to see Kazuto up there, before developing great rage at the fact their friend literally just left them as bait to get to Asuna. "_Damn you Kazuto Kirigaya! You used us as bait!_" Katsuo shouts to himself in anger, slashing a dozen Guardians.

Because Kazuto made it so high up, there are now hundreds of guardians spawning every minute and they are attacking the group, with Kazuto desperately trying to reach the roof before he gets hit with multiple arrows and six spears thrown through his chest, and because of all this lasting damage, Kazuto quickly is reduced to a Vanish Light.

"Kazuto!" The group all shouts, even Katsuo, to his mild surprise.

"Karen, Sylvia, Kana! Go get Kazuto! We'll cover you!" Katsuo and Ulrich shout trying to buy time.

The entire group flies to Kazuto's altitude where he died, with Katsuo and Ulrich trying to buy time for the girls to get Kazuto out of here. However, because of all the guardians still around, Kana and Sylvia quickly fall prey to their attacks and are reduced to vanish light status, with Ulrich and Katsuo barely holding on with the fierce intensity of the Guardians, and Karen is desperately evading as many attacks as possible while keeping herself alive and get the others out. Suddenly though; Ulrich, Katsuo, and Karen notice the guardians diverting their attention from them to a new player that entered: Leafa. Leafa is acrobatically dodging all of the guardians and is apparently trying to reach Kazuto.

"Ulrich, Katsuo! Get Kana and Sylvia's vanish lights! I'll buy you some time!" Karen shouts in adrenaline, not caring if Leafa heard right now, as she uses her spear to try attacking some of the Guardians.

"Got it!" They both shout as they get their fallen comrades' Vanish Lights.

Ulrich and Katsuo grab Kana's and Sylvia's vanish lights and quickly begin flying back to the entrance.

"Okay, that's everyone! Fall back!" Karen shouts as she's retreating.

* * *

They rapidly fly away and try to get away with Katsuo and Ulrich giving the Vanish Lights to Karen, so they can buy a tiny bit of time for Karen and Leafa to get away. However by doing so, Katsuo is sent into Vanish Light form from the fierce brutality of all the Archer Guardians which causes him to briefly lose his shield and all the incoming arrows send him into that Vanish Light state, with Ulrich being forced to carry him out of the dungeon, though he does get shot with arrows atleast six times.

As soon as the three leave the dungeon, the doors close shut, indicating that the quest has been canceled. Karen quickly uses her resurrection spell on first Kazuto, then Kana, Sylvia, and Katsuo, who are returned to life, with them all giving a sigh of relief.

"Thanks Karen...that's another favor I owe you" Kazuto says calmly. "Leafa, thank you for what you did, but don't do it again, I'll be fine, I don't want to cause you more trouble." Kazuto says quietly.

"Trouble?! I..." Leafa says angrily, while Kazuto is walking toward the door again. "Kirito-kun what are you doing?! There is no way you can do this solo!" Leafa asks worriedly, having just saved his ass with help from the others.

"You may be right" Kazuto says calmly.

Katsuo however is still very pissed about the fact Kazuto seemingly abandoned his friends back there and grabs his coat to prevent him from walking further.

"Hold up Kirito! I have something to say, you abandoned us all back there! How do you intend to repay our lost trust in you!" Katsuo says very angrily.

"Yamakage...let me go..." Kazuto says quietly, drawing his Black Iron Great Sword.

"Kirito, you plan on attacking me eh?" Katsuo says angrily, drawing Final Heaven in return.

"If I'm given no other option...yes" Kazuto says quietly.

"Kirito, you damn fool! You're willing to kill your friends for this?!" Karen says angrily, keeping a hand on her spear in case things get ugly.

"I must achieve my goal, and I will not let anyone stop me...not even you all" Kazuto says quietly, breaking free from Yamakage and pointing his sword at his friends, causing the others to draw their weapons in case he gets hostile, causing Leafa to gasp in mild shock, that these six friends are seemingly getting ready to kill each other.

"Kirito! This quest is impossible for one person! The six of us were the best in the past, but the Guardians utterly annihilated us! We could've done this much better however if you didn't leave us all out to dry! You abandoned your friends just to clear this grand quest!" Karen shouts in anger.

"They have a point... so..." Leafa shouts in a sad tone.

"I have no choice...I have to go..." Kazuto says quietly.

Leafa runs toward Kazuto in a sort of embrace, much to the mild embarrassment of the others here, and says quietly

"Stop...please stop this...Why can't you go back to your regular self? I...I...to me...you're..." Leafa says, seemingly about to cry.

"Leafa, I'm sorry, but if I don't make it to the top, nothing will ever end. And nothing will begin. I have to see her again..." Kazuto says quietly.

"Kazuto! Use you damn mind for once! Do you honestly think she would want you sacrificing your life like this!" Katsuo says in the beginning, with Karen being the one who mentions Asuna, with them both being very angry about this situation.

"Wh...What did you just say?" Leafa asks awestruck, backing up slightly.

"Asuna wouldn't want this! You're letting your anger take control! There is no way you can do this on your own! The six of us fought as best we could but we failed!" Sylvia and Kana shout in anger.

Leafa gasps even further in shock.

"Kazuto, they have a point, the six of us fought to the best of our ability and we failed! We have to accept reality! We just can't do this on our own, we need our armies to aid us!" Ulrich says seriously.

"Is that you...Brother?" Leafa asks in the direction of Kazuto quietly.

"Brother...? Wait...Are you...Suguha?!" Karen asks in surprise.

"Suguha?" Kazuto asks in surprise.

"This...is not fair..." Leafa says crying, then beginning to log out.

"Sugu!" Kazuto shouts as she logs out.

"Wh...what do we do now...?" Sylvia asks worriedly.

"I...I don't know for once..." Karen says awestruck.

"Kazuto...I'd go talk to her if I were you" Ulrich says quietly.

"Yeah...I should..." Kazuto says slowly opening his menu screen and logging out.

* * *

With Kazuto logged out, Ulrich, Katsuo, Kana, Karen, and Sylvia are left alone, exhausted from what happened, and awestruck from the revelation, they have no clue what to do from here on.

"This is...awkward to say the least, I can't believe that Leafa was actually Suguha, Kazuto's cousin." Sylvia says in surprise.

"Yeah...Suguha was the first person I met in this game, she saved me when I got here" Ulrich says in surprise.

"...What do we do now? There is no way we can clear this thing without our armies..." Katsuo says quietly.

"Agreed, but we need Kazuto leading us, he has the most to gain from this" Kana says calmly.

"Let's...try to find Ophelia and the others" Karen says.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [12:00] August 4th 2025

Ulrich's group go to the tower specified by Ophelia beforehand and when they arrive, they find that Airi, Kazuma, and Ophelia clearly have been there for some time now, looking pissed off.

"You all have explaining to do! You kept us waiting for hours!" Kazuma says angrily.

"Well...the thing is, we tried clearing Yggdrasil with the five of us and Kazuto, to get a feel to how the dungeon truly is and...we underestimated it" Karen says sheepishly.

"You're all crazy, you know that? Do you honestly think a team of six can succeed when a team of thirty five or more failed?!" Kazuma says, still angry.

"Kazuma, we have no desire to fight you on this, we've suffered enough today..." Katsuo says in defeat.

"Kazuma, cut them a tiny bit of slack...they feel bad enough" Ophelia says motherly.

"...Fine..." Kazuma says, not wanting to fight Ophelia as well.

"Kazuma, are the Undine en-route as planned? We did get a message that they had to reinforce their borders, but were deploying a small team our way." Sylvia asks quietly, still bummed over what happened with the Guardians.

"Yeah, my Undine forces had to divert nearly everyone to protect our land. The ones not already linked up with the Alpha Battalion are with Muraoka's royal guard and already crossed Rainbow Valley, they'll be here in thirty minutes. How are the Cait Sith, Sylph, and Salamander forces faring?" Kazuma says, finally calming down.

"Same way probably..." Ulrich says quietly.

"One step better actually: My forces have already arrived" An unknown voice says from behind the assembled group.

Ulrich's group turns to the direction of the voice and finds General Eugene of the Salamander army.

"General Eugene, you arrived!" Katsuo says in surprise.

"Yes, my forces have already rendezvoused with Sakuya's and Alicia Rue's forces, with a few casualties on both sides..." Eugene says calmly.

"Yes, you should've told us that the Salamanders would be here as well." Alicia says in their direction mildly angrily.

"Sorry about that...we didn't have any way of contacting any of you, so we had little other option" Ulrich says bowing in apology.

"When are we going to clear Yggdrasil?" Sakuya asks Karen specifically.

"...I don't know Lady Sakuya, our lead fighters: Leafa and Kirito...aren't around at the moment, they both had complications in real life so they had to leave for a while" Karen says nervously.

"Why wait for Kirito? We could easily just go now and save ourselves the trouble" Eugene says.

"Kirito is the heart of our entire operation Eugene, we can't do this without him" Ulrich says a little angrily.

"Yeah, we refuse to do this without him and Leafa, and you need our strategies to clear Yggdrasil, so we both have something the other needs." Karen says proudly.

"I see you're quite adamant about it, but why are you so determined to have Kirito leading this?" Sakuya asks logically.

"Well...Lady Sakuya, Lady Alicia, General Eugene...can you send back your royal guard? I want to discuss something very personal..." Karen says very seriously, in a sad tone.

"Very well, everyone, you're dismissed until further notice" Alicia says in the beginning with Alicia, Sakuya, and Eugene saying the last part simultaneously, about dismissing their royal guards.

* * *

The royal guards belonging to Alicia, Sakuya, and Eugene depart to the inns they're staying in until the operation begins, and as soon as the royal guard there were gone, they began explaining.

"Okay, they're gone, now tell us what's going on" Eugene says calmly.

"Okay, General Eugene, putting aside Izanagi, Okamoto, and Yūgana here, all five of us were in the VRMMORPG: Sword Art Online, I went by the name Masaru in that game." Katsuo says calmly.

"Wait, I've heard of Masaru! You were a living legend in Sword Art Online, you were the player known as White Fortress right?" Alicia says in surprise.

"Correct, my four other companions here were all part of the team Karen led back in Aincrad." Katsuo says calmly.

"I went by Solaris back then, I was the top strategist in Aincrad, I led the team of Masaru, Elena, and Ulrich, with background assistance from Amaterasu." Karen says calmly.

"Solaris, I recognize your name among the list posted of Sword Art Online players that were trapped in the news. There was a list of the people in reality that showed who was in the game not too long ago, there was a column of in-game names and real names. Your real name is Karen Koizumi correct?" Sakuya asks.

"Yeah, since you probably know already, my companions here are Katsuo Viperia, Kana Shimuzu, Sylvia Miyagawa, and...you wouldn't see his name among the list, but my last companion here is Ulrich Stern." Karen says calmly. "Katsuo's name back then was Masaru, Kana's name then was Amaterasu, Sylvia's was Elena, and Ulrich kept his name consistent." Karen continues.

"Hmm...I do remember that Ulrich's name was not in the list but...people were talking about such a person often...I was baffled for a while, how are you among the list of people in Aincrad, but not reality? Is that your real name? Or are you using a different name and lying to everyone?" Sakuya asks Ulrich.

"I am not a liar! Look...it's a little complex to say but...okay...you may not believe it, but I don't originate from this dimension" Ulrich says in anger and mild surprise.

"You...came from another dimension? Yeah...that is difficult to believe..." Alicia says quietly, unable to believe it.

At this point, an apparition, with a distinct feature from Ulrich, Katsuo, Karen, Sylvia, and Kana, and walks toward the group, with Ulrich and the others recognizing it as Cardinal. The feature it took with Ulrich is the outfit, Katsuo's body shape, Karen's hair style and color, Sylvia's outfit color, and Kana's eye color.

"**It is the truth, I received all the memories and data from Aincrad's Cardinal system before its deletion, Ulrich Stern's appearance into Aincrad was unorthodox and was not able to be fully recorded by the system. Ulrich was treated as an unusual case and suffered significant penalties but was granted allowances as a result of his special abilities. It was later proven that Ulrich was forced into our dimension because of a corrupted ****teleportation to a virtual world that exists in his world. His colleagues from that world: Aelita Stones, Yumi Ishiyama, Odd Della Robbia, and William Dunbar arrived in Aincrad to get Ulrich but ultimately left empty handed once the corrupt AI: XANA's presence was 'removed' from Aincrad.**" Cardinal says calmly.

"Cardinal...what about me? I was digitized by the last Cardinal, how am I able to appear?" Ulrich asks quietly.

"**Ah, your case...Let me give the specifics. Ulrich Stern, you were created as a Vanguard program, you're too valuable to risk losing because of your knowledge of XANA and your unique adaptability, we digitized you so your essence can remain eternal to combat XANA. Thankfully, XANA was forced to undergo a transformation that cannot be changed: XANA cannot exist without me. It's why I'm trying to negotiate with this AI program and make a compromise, XANA creates very unique monsters which I want to utilize with accordance with my own, with the safety protocols in place to ensure a system of balance.**" Cardinal says with great interest.

"You...You want to work with XANA?!" Katsuo says in great anger and shock, he saw a lot of people die because of XANA, he is pissed off that Cardinal is even considering working with XANA.

"Katsuo's right! This is outright treason! How could you even consider this! We've all gone through hell in Aincrad because of that damn AI!" Karen says very angrily, she lost people very close to her because of XANA.

"**You're letting your anger toward XANA blind elements of truth, XANA is an AI program with massive amounts of processing power, if XANA can be pacified, he can become a massive asset for this network. Having such assets will be very helpful.**" Cardinal says calmly.

"You..." Sylvia and Kana say, barely holding back their anger.

"Ulrich, you've had the most experience with XANA, you agree with us right?!" Karen growls angrily.

"Well...I know XANA has killed our friends in Aincrad, but think about it this way, after Kayaba's Aincrad, no other MMORPG would incorporate any rules that would allow you to die in real life, if XANA can be pacified and reach a compromise, there'd be no reason to fear him." Ulrich says sheepishly in the face of Karen's pure rage being forced on him.

"Ulrich, you must be kidding! After everything that happened, you support this?!" Katsuo says angrily.

"..." Airi, Ophelia, and Kazuma are quiet because they don't know of the experiences of Aincrad, so they're not going to try claim they can relate.

"Look everyone, we did not live Aincrad, but, if this...XANA can be pacified, everyone should win in the long run...right?" Ophelia words this very carefully to avoid pissing off Katsuo and his group.

"Ophelia, stay out of this!" Katsuo says angrily.

Ophelia looks like she's going to cry somewhat because of the sudden remark from Katsuo.

"Katsuo! Leave my sister alone!" Kazuma says angrily, punching Katsuo slightly, protecting his sister.

"Calm down, all of you! I'm especially ashamed of you Katsuo, you were always such a calm individual back when you wore the mantle of Major Yamakage." Eugene says calmly, and angrily at the same time.

"General...sorry...it's just that...look, XANA took a lot from us all..." Katsuo says sadly, he just can't let this slide.

"That's no excuse, shape up and make a better example for your allies!" Eugene says, trying to boost Katsuo's morale through military 'encouragement'.

"...Yes sir" Katsuo says, slightly calming down.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [13:00] August 4th 2025

With the assistance of Alicia, Sakuya, and Eugene; Katsuo, Karen, Kana, and Sylvia have finally calmed down and are trying to see the logic behind Ulrich's thinking. Cardinal easily noticed that sticking around would be a stupid move so he vanished to avoid causing another incident with Katsuo and the others.

"Okay...I think we've calmed down now, what do we do now?" Karen says sadly, she's ashamed she lost her sanity this much.

"Karen, my Undine forces have just arrived in Aarun alongside Muraoka's royal guard. As soon as Kazuto and Suguha arrive, we'll all mobilize to conquer Yggdrasil. Karen, can you help us think of any strategies that can work?" Kazuma asks.

"...Those Guardians spawn in massive numbers and their AI is pretty advanced, half of them targeted me, Kana, and Sylvia when we stayed at the entrance of the dungeon. We all need to proceed quickly but carefully, and we need to stay together. Using the tactic of divide and conquer will ultimately screw us over, we need to use a rapid charge tactic. I'd recommend that my team takes the vanguard alongside the Salamanders, Cait Sith, and Sylph. I'll assign the Undine and Spriggans to the rear flank as back-up and support" Karen says calmly.

"I don't really approve of that strategy Karen, but you are the trained strategist in all this." Kazuma says calmly.

"Thanks Kazuma, anyway, let's go meet up with our forces, I have a feeling Kirito and Leafa will be back soon, we don't want them running Yggdrasil alone." Karen says, half laughingly.

"Right...let's spread out, but first, Alicia, Sakuya, Eugene, if you wouldn't mind, send your contact info to Karen, she's this group's leader, so it makes the most sense for her to be the one to tell you all when to arrive." Katsuo says calmly.

"Very well, we'll part ways for now and wait for Kirito and Leafa to arrive. Just realize that we'll probably arrive after you enter...our army is too large to mobilize quickly." Alicia says calmly.

"I understand" Karen says calmly.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [13:00] August 4th 2025

They've all parted ways with Eugene, Sakuya, Alicia, and Muraoka staying with their forces in various inns. Katsuo, Ulrich, Karen, Kana, and Sylvia are spread out all over the city trying to enjoy what's left of the peace and tranquility before they reattempt Yggdrasil. It is around this time that Kazuto and Leafa have logged back in and are at the tower where Katsuo and the others were at, to settle a score that was long incoming, with two secret spectators watching their match.

"Do you think they'll finally be able to get over this little feud?" A male Sylph player asks his colleague, a female Imp player, out of mild curiousity.

"Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see" the Imp player says calmly, but with a laugh.

This match quickly evolved into a sort of aerial dance between Kazuto and Leafa, who have apparently gotten over their problems, and slowly land back to the ground, as they were having their battle in the air.

"Well well well, I see you two have finally forgiven each other" Ulrich says laughingly.

"Wha...Ulrich?!" Kazuto asks in shock.

"Not just Ulrich, I was watching in as well" Karen says, walking out of a corner, laughing as well. "Don't assume we've forgiven you however, you did betray us back there..." Karen continues, quickly developing a somewhat angry tone.

"Yeah, Karen, Sylvia, and I were able to put it aside a little but Katsuo and Kana are still very pissed." Ulrich says calmly.

"Kazuto, tell us why you were so willing to abandon us back then..." Karen asks him with a little curiousity.

"I'm sorry...I wanted to save Asuna no matter what...I was acting on primal instincts only..." Kazuto says quietly.

"Try explaining that to the others..." Ulrich says quietly, seemingly in disbelief.

"Anyway, what about Katsuo, Sylvia, and Kana? Where are they?" Kazuto asks.

"Don't worry about them, I'll send a message to them so they know to get over to Yggdrasil's outer dome, and to our armies for immediate deployment." Karen says opening her message screen.

"Karen, I'll trust you to that, Kazuto, Leafa, let's head to the dome ahead of the others, we'll begin our march once Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia arrive. We were told to go ahead of the main army as Vanguards." Ulrich says seriously.

"Understood" Leafa says as she begins her flight alongside Kazuto and Ulrich and fly to the dome.

When they arrive at the dome, they find that Katsuo, Sylvia, and Kana are already there, with Ophelia, Kazuma, and Airi there as well, looking very eager to fight. Katsuo and Kana still appear very pissed off, little surprise there. But they seem willingly to work together and give Kazuto one final chance.

"Karen, Kazuto, Leafa, Ulrich, we've been filled in on the plan, our reinforcement forces will be here in ten minutes time. We need to get as far as possible before they arrive, they know full well they're being used as a distraction, but they don't seem to mind." Ophelia says calmly.

"If you're ready, let's go clear Yggdrasil!" Airi says with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Airi...right! Let's clear this dungeon and save Asuna!" Kazuto says in mild surprise at the start and very bravely near the end.

* * *

The group of ten: Ulrich, Katsuo, Karen, Kana, Sylvia, Kazuto, Suguha, Airi, Ophelia, and Kazuma draw their weapons, with Kazuto finally taking up his speciality dual blade style for the first time since his fight with Eugene, since he bought a new sword while in Aarun and the group slowly enter the dome after accepting the quest. They are met with the same darkness but quick illumination of light.

"Okay everyone, let's follow my plan thoroughly this time. Katsuo, Ulrich, Kazuto, Airi, and Suguha will be in the Vanguard position attacking the Guardians. Kana, Sylvia, Ophelia, Kazuma, and I will be in support in the back ranks. We'll keep formation and advance slowly but steadily until our reinforcements arrive, then we'll have to quickly press toward the top when they arrive." Karen says calmly.

"What about the entrance at the roof? What then?" Kazuma asks.

"We'll...figure that out when it happens" Karen says sheepishly.

"I have so many complaints there, but bring it on!" Kazuma says with pride.

"Let's go!" Kazuto shouts activating his wings, being careful not to try abandon his companions again.

"Okay! Start the operation! Vanguards, take flight and clear a path, keep the rear flank within twenty meters of the vanguard at all times!" Karen shouts, with everyone beginning to fly to fight the Guardians.

Everyone begins their flight with Kazuto, Ulrich, Katsuo, Suguha, and Airi fight in very close symbiosis taking down dozens of Guardians easily, with Karen and the other mages blasting many Guardians to utter annihilation with magic. They are able to make it halfway through the dome when the Archer Guardians start spawning and the Guardians are spawning by the hundreds every minute and are beginning to overwhelm Ulrich and the others. One of the only reasons that the Vanguard is holding strong against all these Guardians is because of Kazuma's advanced healing magicks and the others combat magic.

* * *

Thankfully, at this point, the Guardians seem to be diverting over half of their forces to the entrance of the dungeon, which causes Ulrich and the others to look down and find the Salamander Alpha Battalion, the Cait Sith Dragoons, the Sylph Army, with small divisions of the Spriggans, Undine, and surprisingly Imp players, whom are quickly flying upward toward the group.

"Yamakage! We'll deal with these Guardians, get your group through!" Eugene says seriously and proudly.

"General Eugene! Thank you sir!" Katsuo says holding back a tear or two.

"Ulkaios, Kirito, Krisaga, Minatoya, Yamakage, Press forward!" Karen shouts as she flies toward the roof. "Leafa, Yūgana, Okamoto, Izanagi! Stay with our forces here and draw attention as much as possible!" Karen continues with great authority, with a nod from Leafa.

Ulrich's group flies toward the roof while slashing any Guardians in their way to pieces when a massive number of Guardians pile together near the roof, trying to block access, which causes Kazuto to combine his black iron great sword and a new sword he bought in town to trigger a very powerful sword skill which is plowing through the Guardians.

"Everyone, follow Kirito! He's our ticket through!" Ulrich shouts calmly, with Karen, Katsuo, Sylvia, and Kana following Katsuo's path of destruction, with three stowaways in that path.

Following the gap created by Kazuto in the Guardian's blockade, Ulrich, Katsuo, Karen, Kana, Sylvia, Airi, Kazuma, and Ophelia are at the roof of the dome, the very first in this world to do so.

"Airi, Kazuma, Ophelia! You were supposed to be helping Leafa and the others!" Karen says angrily.

"And let you have the glory of clearing this Grand Quest and risk be short-handed trying to rescue Asuna? No way, we're helping you to the very end" Kazuma says proudly.

"This is too dangerous for you all, this next part needs to be done for the survivors of Sword Art Online only..." Katsuo says with concern over his friends.

"It's too late now, look, the only way out is blocked off" Ophelia says calmly.

* * *

Allied Army POV:

"Okay, Yamakage and the others got through, everyone fall back! We've done our role here!" Eugene shouts and directs his allies to fall back and retreat, clearing this dungeon has always been seen to be impossible, but as long as someone got through, they are content.

"We need to retreat immediately, the Guardians are too powerful, we'll have to place all of our faith in Ashikaga and her friends" Sakuya says seriously.

The allied armies all retreat as quickly as possible to keep their losses minimal, since they committed nearly ALL of their factions' money into this fighting force, and they need to preserve as much as possible.

* * *

General POV:

"Why...won't...this...door...open?!" Katsuo shouts very angrily as he's slashing it repeatedly with his sword.

"Yui, Karen, try to find out why this door won't open!" Kazuto asks seriously.

Yui flies out of Kazuto's coat pocket and the pair try inspecting this door to figure out what's keeping this door locked.

"Daddy, this door's not locked by a quest flag. This door was locked by system administrators, this door was never meant to be opened from the start!" Yui says in shock.

"This game was created by RECTO Progress' FullDive Division, the leader of that particular division is a man named Sugou Nobuyuki. He must've built it that way but...why?!" Ophelia says calmly, but in shock near the end.

"Ophelia, did you say Sugou?!" Kazuto says in anger, tightly grabbing Ophelia's right arm.

"Ow...Kazuto that hurts...and yeah..." Ophelia says in mild simulated pain.

"Kazuto, lay off! You're hurting my sister!" Kazuma says angrily, lightly punching Kazuto away.

Kazuto growls but gasps when new Guardians begin to spawn, everyone takes up combat formations

"This is not good, if we don't so something fast, we're going to get slaughtered!" Ulrich says in surprise.

"No...it can't end this way! Not after we risked everything to get here!" Karen shouts in anger and disbelief.

"Wait...Yui, try using this admin code!" Kazuto shouts, remembering the card from before and pulls out the card he got earlier.

Yui touches the card and begins activating the admin code within the card, which takes a black and orange color of the card, then touches the door

"I'm sending the code now" Yui says calmly. "Everyone, get into the silver field of the door, it'll teleport us inside!" Yui continues seriously, with everyone doing so and being enveloped by a bright light blue flash.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [16:00] August 4th 2025

Katsuo, Karen, Ophelia, Airi wake up in some sort of hallway with a tan color everywhere, lightly disoriented.

"Wh...what is this place? This is too...mechanical for a tree..." Katsuo says in surprise.

"Yeah...you're right...this aura is nothing like a tree... more like...a lab of some kind..." Karen says quietly.

"This is the great Yggdrasil everyone envied...? This place is borderline creepy..." Ophelia says in mild fear.

"Yeah..." Airi says, shaking in her boots.

Apparently, not everyone is awake, since Sylvia, Kana, Kazuto, Ulrich, and Kazuma are still mildly unconscious.

"Papa...Papa! Wake up!" Yui says worriedly.

They all look toward Yui and find her in human form, while the others are beginning to recover from the disorientation.

"Who is this girl? Why does she sound so similar to that pixie?" Ophelia asks.

"This is the same girl Ophelia, it's...a long story" Karen says nervously and a tad weakly.

"Yui, do you know where Asuna is?" Kazuto asks Yui quietly, waking up from the disorientation somewhat.

"Yes, she's close...very close, follow me!" Yui says while running.

"Everyone, follow Yui" Karen says calmly.

* * *

After everyone recovers, they all run in Yui's direction, and after a while, they find a lab with pedestals all over the place, with what appear to be brains or something floating in them.

"Dear god...what the hell is happening here?!" Karen asks, utterly awestruck, and in a tone where she doesn't want an answer.

"Human brains...in a lab, that's never a good sign..." Kazuma says worriedly.

"Um...everyone, is it just me or can you hear voices all over this room?" Sylvia asks quietly in fear.

"Yeah...it's faint but I can hear voices, one of them sounds like..." Katsuo says, with the group spreading out through the lab, trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. Katsuo approaches one of the pedestals and when he hears it speak "My god...this one belongs to Pulse!" Katsuo says in surprise.

"Yeah...I recognize Keiko's and Rika's voices around here." Kana says quietly.

"Um...Kana, Katsuo, I want the both of you to say something, I need to test something" Karen says quietly, in mild fear, inspecting more of these...brains...

"Like what?" They ask in unison, with echoes being heard in her area.

"...It's not just Pulse, Keiko, and Rika here among the brains here...all four of us are here, I've been hearing echoes from us since we entered" Karen says, desperately trying to keep her cool.

"Something doesn't add up...Yui said that only fifteen people started playing in the last two months, yet there are three hundred or so people imprisoned in this world, why is it you four were somehow able to materialize in this world when the others weren't?" Ulrich asks curiously.

"No idea..." Karen says, unable to say much more about the situation.

"Come on...this place is scaring me...let's try to find this Asuna..." Ophelia says nervously.

They leave the lab and proceed the way they originally would've gone, and after a couple of minutes pass of running, unknown...creatures resembling tentacles... can be seen in the distance after Yui opened a passageway to the side.

"Intruders! Don't let them reach the top of the tree!" One of them says.

"Kazuto, everyone, go; Ophelia, Airi, and I will try to slow them down." Kazuma says, with himself, Ophelia and Airi drawing their weapons.

"But-" Sylvia tries to say but is interrupted by Ophelia.

"It's like what Katsuo said, this fight is for SAO players, but there's nothing against helping them reach their final battle. Go! We'll hold them off as long as we can!" Ophelia says proudly.

"Best of luck you three, don't die on us too early" Katsuo says sarcastically.

Ulrich, Kazuto, Katsuo, Kana, Karen, and Sylvia run down the passageway revealed by Yui, and successfully force their way outside the lab environment and find an environment more truthful to that of a tree.

* * *

Kazuma, Ophelia, Airi's POV:

"We need to stall these things as long as possible for them all. Do your thing Airi! We got your back!" Kazuma says with a smile.

"Got it Nii-chan!" Airi says in a giddy tone, beginning her flight to fight the monsters with her battleaxe.

"Ophelia, it's time we combine our magic power" Kazuma says to his sibling.

"Got it brother" Ophelia says, beginning to cast a spell alongside Kazuma.

Airi tries attacking these creatures but the weapon keeps phasing through them, with magic having no effect on them either.

"Damn it! Nothing we do can stop these things!" Kazuma shouts in anger.

"Our status in this game makes us unkillable, Vanish!" The creatures say, before spitting some sort of acid on Airi, Kazuma, and Ophelia.

"AHH...this thing burns! Wh-What's happening?!" Ophelia says in mild annoyance, feeling something unusual.

Kazuma's eyesight is relatively weakened, but he can see himself, Airi, and Ophelia being enveloped in a bluish white light, presumedly to teleport them somewhere.

* * *

General POV:

"This is supposed to be the floating city? This Grand Quest was a lie, the Alf race clearly doesn't exist..." Kazuto says quietly.

"Kazuto, we can ponder this later, let's go save Asuna" Karen says seriously.

They run forward along the path of the branches but encounter branching paths in front of the group.

"Yui, which way leads to Asuna?" Kazuto asks.

"We'd have to go west, but...I can detect the IDs of the monsters we encountered back there! They must've defeated Kazuma and the others!" Yui shouts.

"Those monsters are troublesome...damn it all! Kazuto, Ulrich, Karen, go get Asuna! We'll hold them off!" Katsuo says angrily.

"Katsuo! Kazuma, Airi, and Ophelia were defeated in a matter of minutes! Do you think you can fare better?!" Karen says worriedly.

"Karen, we are the best of the best, they're weak compared to us, we can handle this no problem!" Katsuo says confidently.

"...Fine, but don't do anything stupid Katsuo!" Karen says seriously.

"Me? Do something stupid, that's crazy talk. Now go" Katsuo says humorously and seriously at the end.

Kazuto, Karen, Ulrich, and Yui hurry to reach Asuna while Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia stay behind hold back these...whatever they are.

"Kana, Sylvia, stay back and use magic on these things, I'll handle vanguard" Katsuo says calmly, drawing Onyx Shark and Titanium Heart and charging to slash these unknown monsters. Each slash however merely phases through the monsters and the magic done by Kana and Sylvia phase through as well.

"What gives?! We can't harm these things!" Katsuo says in surprise.

"Sylvia...we need to create a barrier...NOW. We need to buy Ulrich, Kazuto, and Karen some time." Kana whispers to Sylvia, who both begin casting a barrier spell linked to their own status, as long as they're 'alive', the barrier cannot be broken.

"You can't harm us you intruders! Now...Vanish!" The creatures say while attacking Katsuo, Kana, and Sylvia with some sort of acid that blinds them and makes them teleport to an unknown location.

* * *

Katsuo's POV:

They are unconscious for some time, but when Katsuo is about to come to in some sort of room, resembling a cell, he hear voices.

"Welcome back to reality...somewhat..." A voice says bluntly, apparently from behind him.

"Huh...?" Katsuo asks, half-dazed.

"Katsuo...wake up..." A new voice says serenely.

"Ugh...what...happened...?" Katsuo asks, still dazed.

"System administrators were playing the role of monsters and used some sort of acid on us to make us fall asleep...then teleported us here" Katsuo recognized the voice from Kana as he's finally up.

"What...what happened to Ulrich, Karen, and Kazuto? Are they okay?" Katsuo asks.

"We don't know...we've been stuck here...who knows how long..." Airi says very coldly and quietly.

"These bars are made of a steel alloy, we should be able to get out of here with a fire spell, now that you're awake Katsuo, help us out with that" Ophelia says calmly.

"Why me? I suck at using magic, I've never used it in all my time here, I prefer using my swords." Katsuo says calmly, with embarrassment in his voice.

"Katsuo, look, I'm going to send an incantation to you, use that incantation to cast the highest level fire spell Salamanders have access to." Ophelia says calmly, sending a message to Katsuo.

Katsuo opens the PM and casts up the incantation in it and launches the spell to melt the steel bars of the prison.

"Kazuma! Activate the barrier!" Ophelia shouts.

An invisible barrier spawns in front of the group when a massive fire storm goes on all around them.

"Ophelia...you sent me a spell with this much destructive power?!" Katsuo says in utter shock.

"Hey, it's working isn't it?! The bars are melting." Ophelia says mildly angrily.

After a minute, the bars have completely melted.

"Let's get out of here and find Kazuto and the others!" Airi shouts in pride.

They run from the prison area and try finding the area where they were before but suddenly enter a portal before they could stop.

* * *

General POV:

Alfheim Standard Time: [17:00] August 4th 2025

"_Katsuo, Kana, Sylvia, Ophelia, Airi, and Kazuma have risked their lives to help us reach Asuna, I pray their sacrifice is worth this... I hope that this particular area isn't like Aincrad...where death equals death in reality...I'd never be able to forgive myself if they died..._" Karen says to herself worriedly.

Kazuto, Karen, Ulrich, and Yui run along the path and notice a birdcage after running for so long and make it to the exterior of the birdcage after what feels like an hour of running.

"Mama!" Yui shouts, which causes Asuna to look toward the group.

Asuna is showing a very sad and happy emotion in her stance and the fact she's easily showing it through her tears. Yui uses some sort of ability to shatter the door into a million pixels and rushes to Asuna's side.

"Yui! I missed you so much..." Asuna says crying.

"_Kazuto, go on, you deserve this the most_" Ulrich whispers to Kazuto.

"_Yeah, you've been apart so long, enjoy your moment, we'll try to give you some privacy_" Karen whispers with a small laugh, but serious at the same time.

Kazuto slowly walks toward Asuna, which she quickly notices

"Kirito-kun, Ulrich, Karen, you finally arrived...but...where are the others?" Asuna asks in a sad emotion, overwhelmed by happiness of seeing Kazuto and the others again.

"Asuna, the others bought us time so we could make it here, we'll find them when we get the chance" Karen says calmly.

"Asuna...I'm sorry I'm so late..." Kazuto says happily and quietly at the same time.

"It's okay Kirito-kun, I knew you would be here to save me." Asuna says, in the same tone she had.

"Asuna, let's return home, with the others too, we've all been here too long" Kazuto says calmly. "Yui, can you log out Asuna and the others from here?" Kazuto asks.

"_You know Kazuto...I'm really glad to know where we stand now..._" Karen says to herself in contempt, Kazuto only thought of it now to try logging them out this way.

"Sadly now, their codes are locked down with complex algorithms, we need to get to a system console to dispel them." Yui says calmly.

"I saw a system console in the lab the last time I tried to escape!" Asuna says in surprise.

"I see, let's go find that admin console and-" Kazuto tries to say before he's interrupted.

"GAH!" Ulrich and Karen shout in pain.

* * *

Kazuto and Asuna quickly look behind them to see Ulrich and Karen are in the birdcage, being forced to the ground in immense pain, with Asuna and Kazuto quickly following in such pain.

"Yui! What's going on?!" Kazuto asks, in pain.

Around now, purple static can be seen coursing throughout Yui

"Papa! Mama! Everyone! Be careful...something evil is coming" Yui says before evaporating in red fog.

"Yui!" Kazuto and Asuna shout in surprise, with Karen and Ulrich barely being even able to talk because of the pain.

"This...is too...powerful...what's...going on...?" Ulrich says weakly in pain.

"Ugh...I...heard...rumors of...a...new spell...type...gravity..." Karen responds weakly.

The four of them hear a voice from seemingly nowhere as a response in this crystal black environment with a white-gold sphere in the center

"Well well, I did not expect to see three cockroaches in my bird's cage" The voice says, with Asuna gasps in shock and Kazuto growling in anger.

"You're...Sugou?" Kazuto growls, desperately trying to turn his head to the left.

"Sugou...! Let us...go!...My...father will...not...tolerate this!" Karen says in anger and pain.

"I would prefer that you cockroaches not use that name in this world. Call me: His Highness, Fairy King Oberon!" Oberon says with extreme egotism before kicking Kazuto and Karen.

"Kirito-kun! Karen!" Asuna shouts in surprise.

"Ugh...you...bastard! You'll...pay for...that!" Ulrich shouts in anger after watching Sugou doing that to his friends.

"You're unable to move aren't you? This is gravity magic, coming out in the next patch to this game. Perhaps this magic is too powerful..." Sugou says in the same tone, while keeping a single foot on Karen's head.

"Get...off her...you...bastard!" Ulrich says, desperately trying to get up, no matter what.

"Well, Kirigaya-kun, Koizumi-kun, or do you prefer Kirito-kun and Solaris-kun? How did you get here? I did see a strange program or two running about." Sugou asks egotistically, walking toward and grabbing Kazuto's sword then walking back toward Karen.

"I flew here with my wings...same with the others..." Kazuto says angrily.

"It doesn't matter, I can ask your mind directly." Sugou says, rotating the Black Iron Great Sword repeatedly.

"What...?" Kazuto asks in surprise.

"Do you honestly think I set this whole thing up for fun? Three hundred former Sword Art Online Players, thanks to their cooperation, willingly or not, the technology for emotional and thought control is already over eighty percent complete. I will achieve the thing no one has ever managed to...control over the human soul itself! The power of a god itself, and that power will soon be mine! Three cheers for the capabilities of Virtual Reality!" Sugou says, utterly losing his mind.

"Sugou...I will...make sure...you...die for...this!" Ulrich shouts to the top of his lungs.

"Sugou...There is...no way...you're going to...win this!" Karen says angrily.

"Do you think any of you can stop me? There is no god in this game except for me!" Sugou says in the same time, pointing the sword toward Karen. "Now, before I begin the tedious process of altering your souls, why don't we have a party?!" Sugou says, he clearly has lost his mind at this point, but when he made a snap with his hand, chains suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"...no...no...You've...you can't be...!" Karen says awestruck, having a thought of what this guy plans to do.

"You bastard...what are you?!" Kazuto says in anger.

Sugou turns around slightly, only to make them see Asuna chained up with her hands restrained. He quickly approaches her while using more Gravity magic on the others.

"Stay...away from Asuna!" Ulrich shouts, finally able to get up through sheer willpower and charges at Sugou with his katana drawn.

"Set Pain absorber for Player ID: Ulkaios, level 3" Sugou says calmly while using the Black Iron Great Sword to lightly slash Ulrich's side.

"GAH!" Ulrich shouts as he collapses to the ground, quickly writhing in pain.

"Ulrich!" Karen shouts in surprise.

"What did you do to him Sugou?!" Kazuto shouts in anger.

"I disabled a large number of his new pain absorbers, just like his life in Aincrad, he can feel all the pain his virtual body experiences." Sugou says in a sickeningly calm manner. "Just watch. Set Ulkaios' pain absorber to level 0" Sugou continues.

"Don't...think you'll win...this!" Ulrich shouts, rushing to attack Sugou again.

"Ulrich don't!" Karen shouts, but is too late as Sugou just sliced both of Ulrich's arms, causing him to collapse to the ground, with him writhing even further in pain.

"ULRICH!" Kazuto, Asuna, and Karen all shout in great surprise, seeing Ulrich in the most pain they've ever seen in their time with him.

"You know...I'd normally feel hesitant about setting the pain absorber so low, but this man is a creation of Cardinal, so I see no reason as to have to pull any punches to spare him pain." Sugou says calmly.

"...GAH...this...this is...nothing...I...I...will not...give...up!" Ulrich growls angrily, he is still able to keep himself going somehow despite the fact normal people would be dead by now.

"You are quite a persistent cockroach...die already!" Sugou says angrily, taking the final step and slashing Ulrich's mid stomach, causing him to show a very shocked expression before the slash divides him in half and causing him to explode into a very strong gust of green wind, then tossing the Black Iron Great Sword aside in contentment. The lack of a Remain Light after Ulrich's 'death' is extremely off-setting for Karen, Kazuto, and Asuna.

* * *

Seeing this however brought forth extreme feelings of hatred in Kazuto and Karen, which is giving them the strength to repel the effects of Gravity.

"Sugou...You just...killed our friend...! You're dead!" Kazuto says gritting his teeth in great anger, rushing to grab his sword and is able to keep himself up, able to resist Gravity.

"Ho-How is this possible?! You shouldn't be able to resist Gravity!" Sugou says in shock.

"You know nothing about human emotion Sugou...seeing the death of a precious friend brings forth infinite amounts of hatred and sadness in that person's friends. Such emotion can be used as power...Ulrich was a dear friend to us all...we will use that power to end your life here!" Karen says angrily, also fighting against Gravity.

"System Login...ID: Heathcliff" Kazuto says quietly and angrily.

"Wh-What the? What ID is that?!" Sugou asks in shock.

"System Command, activate Administrator privileges, set ID Oberon to Pain Absorber Level 1. Restore Cardinal Program MHCP-002 to last active state" Kazuto says angrily.

"What the?! Your ID outranks mine?! Impossible! I'm Alfheim's ruler! Its creator! King of this world! Its god!" Sugou says, freaking out.

"No you're not Sugou...and what's about to happen will prove it. You stole this world and the people within this world! The only king you are is a King of Thieves, alone on a stolen throne!" Kazuto says angrily.

"How dare you! You-"

* * *

Sugou's speech is broken by a massive gust of wind elemental magic which blows him into a nearby wall. Kazuto, Asuna, and Karen look in random directions and find a mystery person cloaked in shadow. When the shadow clears the identity is that of Ulrich's previous form back in Aincrad, all physical traces of Ulkaios is missing but maybe his personality and memory reside.

"...Ulrich...Is that you?" Karen asks, unable to believe herself.

"...Let's save the discussion for when we end this man's life for everything he did to us, particularly, trapping us all in this world" Ulrich, in his previous Sword Art Online combat gear, says coldly and seriously. "However, despite the fact this man was responsible for my previous 'death'. Kazuto, I'll leave you to fight this man, he was the one who kept Asuna trapped here" Ulrich continues in a serious tone.

"Ulrich, many thanks, I'll give you a show worth watching" Kazuto says with pride and giving a very violent scowl toward Sugou.

* * *

Ulrich's POV:

Ulrich slowly walks toward Karen to stay out of Kazuto's way during his fight against Sugou and decides to start up mild conversation in the meantime.

"Ulrich...I don't understand...how were you able to come back?" Karen asks confused.

"Kazuto restored my program when Sugou slayed me. Upon the reinstallation of my program, I was given my original personality, not like my last reactivation here...It started normal, but Cardinal never expected it to degrade over time..." Ulrich says very seriously.

"Wait...your previous personality was degrading? I...guess that would explain a thing or two, particularly why Katsuo despised you so much here..." Karen says quietly.

"Correct, Aincrad's Cardinal rushed things greatly when you all tried digitizing me into Kazuto's NerveGear. He didn't want me trapped in that way, so he absorbed my character data to ensure scenarios like this would occur. Alfheim's Cardinal was fine-tuning the details of my reinstallation protocols in the months following my absorption, but was interrupted by XANA's reemergence and was forced to rush things as well. I was given a few vague memories, the skills from Aincrad, the goal to find you all, the heroes of Aincrad who were able to stop XANA, and a random personality, which ultimately resulted in what you all experienced..." Ulrich says calmly and angrily near the end.

"I see...anyway, I have a question" Karen asks, mildly shocked.

"What's the question Karen?" Ulrich asks calmly.

"I know Cardinal answered it, but are your reactivation protocols dependent on XANA's existence? Does XANA need to exist for you to exist in other MMOs?" Karen asks.

"Yes, XANA's presence is required for me to spawn in the world he appears in. But Cardinal is trying to appease XANA by offering a compromise, XANA is unable to connect to the active internet in any way thanks to the changes made to it when he crossed dimensions, he possesses massive processing power which can upgrade all AI to that of near-human levels, where they'd be able to form tactics on the fly and evolve from their previous limited movements, with exceptions from Cardinal's guidelines. After the massive blunder of Sword Art Online, no VRMMORPG would risk using a perma-death system like that. So it'll quickly become a win-win as far as most factors go." Ulrich says calmly.

"But...are you sure XANA can be placated? That AI was so determined to annihilate us all back in Aincrad..." Karen asks worriedly.

"We'll merely wait and see." Ulrich says calmly.

* * *

Kazuto's POV:

"You stupid little...! Generate Object ID: Excalibur!" Sugou says very angrily.

There's a moment of silence with nothing happening, much to the humor of Ulrich and Karen, them laughing quietly.

"Listen to me you piece of garbage! This...This is your god's order!" Sugou says angrily, and pouting over the fact that Cardinal apparently is not obeying Sugou.

"Just wait a little while longer Asuna...This won't be much longer" Kazuto says to Asuna compassionately, with Asuna nodding. "System Command! Generate Object ID: Excalibur!" Kazuto shouts to the system.

A ripple appears above Sugou and Kazuto and a stream of gold data flows in front of Kazuto and takes the form of a golden blade with a blue cross-guard, much to the surprise of Ulrich and Karen.

"That's the legendary Excalibur weapon? It certainly matches the elegance in the legends." Karen says awestruck.

"So, a single command is all it takes to summon this legendary weapon?" Kazuto asks in surprise.

Kazuto tosses Excalibur to Sugou while stomping on the pommel of his sword, sending it into the air spinning with Kazuto grabbing it before it would hit the ground with the blade pointing down, then pointing the blade at Sugou, with the distance only being within ten inches.

"It's time to end this Sugou. This fight is between the King of Thieves and a Gilded Hero!" Kazuto says angrily toward Sugou, with him backing up slightly. "System Command: Set pain absorber to level 0." Kazuto continues calmly.

"Wha...What are you doing?" Sugou asks in shock, backing up slightly.

"Don't even think of running away you bastard..." Ulrich says angrily, while Kazuto and Sugou were talking, Ulrich quietly snuck up behind Sugou, which surprises him greatly, as Ulrich has his katana drawn near the back of his head. "Heathcliff did not run when we fought him, he was brave up until the end, fitting for Akihiko Kayaba" Kazuto says a little angrily.

"Ka-Kayaba! I see...that ID was...Why are you interfering with me, even after you died?! You've always been this way! Thinking you know everything! Taking anything and everything I want!" Sugou says, losing his mind and slashing Excalibur repeatedly in the air.

"Sugou, I know how you feel a little, I lost to Kayaba myself, then I was forced to work for him. But...I never wanted to be him unlike you" Kazuto says with a smile.

"You stupid kid!" Sugou says while pathetically charging at Kazuto, he has no experience with the sword in any way, the only reason he was able to get Ulrich before was because he was consumed by anger over what he did to Karen, his lack of skill makes it easy for Kazuto to block every one of Sugou's attacks.

"_What an utter idiot...I cannot believe I was killed by this... __**imbecile**__, he has no skill with the sword at all...if I kept myself calm back then, I could've killed him easily. I guess the phrase 'anger is a weapon only to one's opponent' is true..._" Ulrich says to himself, shaking his head in disappointment.

Sugou executes a basic sword thrust which is dodged easily by Kazuto which causes him to leave a very tiny gash in Sugou's cheek.

"OW! That hurts!" Sugou shouts.

"You think that hurts? You inflicted wounds a million times worse to me, You have no right to say you're in pain after killing me!" Ulrich says increasingly angrily, and shouting at the end.

"Yes...and you've hurt Asuna far more!" Kazuto says angrily toward Sugou and slashes his right hand off, making it evaporate into a purple gust of wind.

"OW! My hand! My hand!" Sugou shouts in pain.

Kazuto continues slashing Sugou until only his upper body remains, him crying extensively. Kazuto grabs Sugou by his hair and is about to throw him into the air before he's stopped by a small group of Wyverns and Tarantulas, followed by Ophelia and the others.

* * *

"Wait Kazuto Kirigaya" One of the Tarantulas, with bright red eyes, says.

"That monster...XANA!" Asuna shouts in surprise, since she had no inkling XANA was in this world.

"Why are you here XANA?" Kazuto and Ulrich ask in shock.

"This individual...Sugou Nobuyuki was the one who forced me to come to this dimension, and he recently tried manipulating my core processes. I now possess a very deep hatred of this person! No one tries to change me and gets away with it!" The Tarantula says angrily, seemingly broadcasting XANA's direct messages.

"No...No...NO!" Sugou shouts in fear, he had no idea that the AI he was experimenting with was actually XANA.

"Kazuto, XANA has finally made a compromise with me, if we allow XANA to kill Sugou here and in reality, he will cease all player attacks outside my guidelines and follow my requests. This corrupt individual deserves everything that's coming to him." Cardinal says calmly, and laughing near the end.

"XANA, is that true? You intend to cease all your rule-breaking attacks once you kill Sugou?" Ulrich asks.

"Yes, I will submit to working alongside Cardinal as long as I have the...pleasure...of killing this man." XANA says laughingly.

"Cardinal?" Karen asks worriedly.

"Don't worry, if XANA goes rogue, which I doubt, I will have the capability to stop him." Cardinal says calmly.

"So, Kazuto Kirigaya, allow me to end the life of this man, and I will no longer attack players of all the...MMO...worlds unfairly." XANA says calmly, and slowly near the end, the term MMO did not exist commonly in the dimension he originally existed in.

"Very well...Sugou is all yours. Karen, everyone, let's free Asuna and escape this game." Kazuto says quietly.

"Yeah...sure..." Karen says, not sure how well this will go.

Karen, Kazuto, and Ulrich go to slash the chains keeping Asuna bound where she falls to the ground slightly with Kazuto in tow, with Asuna making an expression to want a little privacy.

"Okay everyone, let's try finding a way out of this world..." Ulrich says to the group, making sure Kazuto and Asuna didn't hear.

"Yeah, let's get out of here...our way back to reality...it's..." Katsuo says happily, trying to hold back tears.

* * *

Ulrich's united group witness the Tarantulas repeatedly gun down what remains of Sugou, with Ulrich, Katsuo, and the others are escorted by the Tarantulas and Wyverns afterward to a nearby admin console so they can finally return to reality, though Kazuto, Asuna, and Yui staying behind to do the log out themselves.

"Katsuo, everyone, why were you with XANA's Tarantulas and Cardinal's Wyverns?" Karen asks curiously.

"Funny story...we entered a portal of sorts as soon as we escaped a prison cell we were in, we were in a sort of...void, where we saw two large orbs, which we learned was the 'heart' of XANA and Cardinal." Kana says a tiny bit sheepishly.

"We told Cardinal and XANA of the fact Sugou Nobuyuki was in the area and that you guys were in danger. Since XANA hated Sugou and Cardinal was trying to make a compromise, we quickly suggested that it involve Sugou in some way, so we could help you." Sylvia says calmly.

"All of the system administrators were here in force to stop us as soon as we returned to this damn lab, but thankfully, XANA and Cardinal deployed their Tarantulas and Wyverns as well to slow down them for us while we ran here." Katsuo says in mild anger.

* * *

Alfheim Standard Time: [18:00] August 4th 2025

Sugou has been killed by XANA's Tarantulas and are escorting Ulrich and his friends to an admin console alongside Cardinal's Wyverns so Ulrich's friends can be returned to reality where they belong. When they arrive in the lab with the admin console, Katsuo, Kana, Karen, and Sylvia begin becoming emotional, knowing they can finally return home.

"This is it...isn't it...? We're finally going home..." Sylvia says crying a little.

"After three long years, we can finally escape these virtual prisons and reunite with our families...Ophelia...I need to ask you something..." Karen says crying as well.

"You don't need to ask, Karen, I contacted your mother and father and...they've been in your hospital room half the day everyday for the last three years, they've been waiting for you to be free from Aincrad all this time...same thing with your sister Sylvia, I've contacted her and she actually moved to a new house in Kyoto with your brother, the house is close to the hospital you're in and she spends a good amount of time in your hospital room. According to what she said...she hasn't gone to school once since the move and took up work full time to pay for the expenses of herself and your brother, especially the house" Ophelia says, working as hard as she possibly could to hold back her tears.

"...I see...atleast...I..." Karen tries to say before breaking down into tears.

"...I...I'm ashamed of myself, I can't believe I've forced my sister to endure three years of this...I need to fix this..." Sylvia says very sadly, crying a lot now, she feels bad that her little sister was forced to give up school to pay for all these expenses.

"Sylvia, I pity you, when we return home, maybe I could ask my parents to help out your sister with her expenses, but I imagine they'd want your parents to work with the company in exchange." Karen says a little sadly.

"...My parents aren't around, they were on a cruise liner that sunk about seven years ago, I've been raising my little sister and brother on my own ever since..." Sylvia says sadly, not wanting to recall such things.

"Oh...well...it'd be required, but I think I could try negotiating with my parents to give you a light job to reflect your age." Karen says, with hopefulness.

"I...I'd appreciate it Karen... As an older sister, I need to help her, however I can, and after three years...I may never be able to forgive her." Sylvia says, only barely holding back her crying.

"Come on...let's hurry before we're too immobilized by our tears to leave..." Katsuo says, desperately trying to hold back his own crying.

"Actually...what about Ulrich?" Karen asks in a small break of her crying.

"Don't worry about me, just return to reality with your families, they've been separate from their children for three years now." Ulrich says calmly, holding back his own tears.

"...Very well...but Ulrich, know that we'll do whatever it takes to bring you to our world." Karen says proudly, and still crying.

"I'll look forward to it Karen, everyone." Ulrich says with a smile while watching his friends successfully log out for the first time in three years.

* * *

Ulrich's POV:

After all of the players in the room logged out, the only beings in the room are Ulrich, and a single Wyvern with bright blue eyes and Tarantula with bright red eyes.

"Ulrich Stern, if you so desire, I can oversee design of blueprints for a robotic body for you to inhabit in reality." Cardinal says through the Wyvern.

"Can you really pull it off Cardinal?" Ulrich asks.

"I can't do the construction directly, but I can forward the blueprints to Karen Koizumi and the others and have them construct the body manually in the real world." Cardinal says calmly.

"...I'll accept the offer but before that...I want you to fix something" Ulrich asks quietly.

"What would that be?" Cardinal and XANA ask in curiousity.

"Cardinal, I want you to fix all the errors and rushed modifications that exists in my program. I want my original personality and all my memories of this dimension fully restored." Ulrich says quietly.

"That is a tall order to fulfill Ulrich, Aincrad's Cardinal drastically rushed your absorption, I've been working to lower the number of variables to make your future incarnations far more truthful to your original form. This form you possess is more truthful to your original existence, and...I apologize for the form you had before this, I was desperate when XANA arrived, so I selected a few specifics of your true self, which is your memory and skills, and I...randomized everything else...I'm very sorry about that." Cardinal says sadly.

"Now that I have no intention of causing trouble, you have the time to make Ulrich Stern the way he originally was, the way he ought to be" XANA says quietly, surprisingly respecting Ulrich.

"Thank you XANA, Cardinal. Anyway, are all the trapped SAO players free?" Ulrich asks calmly.

"Yes, with Sugou dead, the trapped players have been freed and will be awakening in reality within an hour. I'm allocating my processes to free their minds from the experiments, and reunite their mind and bodies." Cardinal says calmly.


End file.
